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(^ i.,  U    tlt^l-YtA-^ J! (_Ji_( ^ 


REESE    LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Received^ L^KOOLU^    iS8^ 

Accessions    Vo.^^SA?.&        Shelf  No 


PLAN 


FOUNDER  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


F.  V.  R  E  I N  H  A  R  D,  S.  T.  I). 

wourt  Preacher  at  Dresden. 


TRANSLATID    FROM    Tl^H^''A"f6    Cyi*MAN    EDITION, 


OLIVER  A.  TAYLOR,  A.  M. 

Resident  Licentiate^Tt*fljJogic4iSeminary,  Andover. 

.^^-  ^\m^ 

\vV       ^j5<  THE  ^^ 

NEW-YOR] 

PUBLISHED    BY   G.   &   C.   &    H.  CARVILL, 

No.  108,  Broadway. 

Andover.... Printed  at  the  Codman  Pres« 
BY  FLAGG  AND   OOTJLD. 

1831. 


J I  U  01 


f^H 


"  Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eiglit  hun- 
dred and  thirty  one,  by  G.  &  C.  &  H.  Carvill,  in  the  Clerk's  ofBce  of  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York." 


-zo'^t^y 


^r*         OF  THE 


TRANsiT^prcrirg^  preface. 


The  work  here  presented  to  the  public,  is  the  production 
of  F.  V.  Reinhard,  a  native  of  Vohenstrauss  a  market  town 
in  the  Dukedom  of  Sulzbach,  for  some  time  Professor  Or- 
dinarius  of  Theology  at  Wittemberg,  and  finally  Court 
Preacher  with  the  honorary  title  of  Oberconsistorialassessor 
at  Dresden,  where  he  died  in  1812,  in  the  59th  year  of  his 
age.  His  father  was  a  pious  and  worthy  clergyman  of  the 
place  where  he  was  born,  and  the  first  and  principal  in- 
structor of  his  youth.  Of  course,  the  education  which  he 
received  was  strictly  of  an  Evangelical  cast,  and,  through 
the  blessing  of  God,  was  a  principal  means  of  preserving 
him  from  continuance  in  the  errors  of  skepticism  into 
which  he  afterwards  fell,  and  of  rendering  him  the  useful 
man  in  the  cause  of  religion  which  he  ultimately  became. 
He  was  the  most  eloquent  scholar  of  his  age  and  the  author 
of  several  works  and  about  thirty  volumes  of  sermons,  all 
distinguished  for  a  flowing  style,  lucid  order,  and  clearness 
and  fullness  of  thought.  Of  his  works,  the  following  is  not 
the  least  conspicuous.  The  object  which  he  had  in  view 
in  composing  it  and  the  circumstances  which  first  called  it 
forth,  are,  in  a  few  words,  clearly  stated  in  the  introduction 
and  the  appendix,  A  and  F.  Still  it  may  be  interesting  to 
some  to  have  a  more  particular  account  of  them.  Protes- 
tant Germany,  which  had  long  been  comparatively  free  from 
anti-christian  writers,  while  England  and  France  were  del- 
uged with  them,  had  now  begun  to  experience  a  reverse  in 
this  respect.  J.  C.  Edelmann  a  native  of  Weissenfels,  hav- 
ing passed  through  various  seceding  sects  of  the  Evangeli' 
cal  church,  then  tried  Atheism,  and  finally  taken  up. with  Pan* 


IV  PREFACE. 

theism,  a  man  of  some  talent  but  few  acquisitions,  had  died 
a  few  years  previous  in  banishment,  for  his  open  and  auda- 
cious attacks  upon  the  church.  To  him  succeeded  Reima-. 
rus  a  native  of  Hamburg,  where  he  was  born  in  1694,  a 
thorough  philologist,  one  of  the  ablest  critics  of  his  age,  and 
the  author  of  various  productions,  some  of  them  of  high  re- 
pute. In  1758,  he  published  an  able  work,  entitled  :  "  Log- 
ic containing  directions  for  the  right  use  of  reason  in  the 
acquisition  of  truth ;  drawn  from  the  two  natural  rules  of 
agreement  and  disagreement."*  Of  some  of  the  directions 
which  he  laid  down  in  this  work,  he  afterwards  made  exten- 
sive use  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  revealed  religion.  It 
was  far  from  his  intention  however  to  publish  any  thing  of 
an  anti-christian  character,  and  consequently  his  writings 
were  confined  to  his  confidential  friends,  and  left  behind  in 
manuscript  at  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Hamburg  in 
1765,  at  which  time,  he  was  Professor  of  Hebrew  and  Math- 
ematics at  the  Gymnasium  in  that  place.  Of  these  anti- 
christian  manuscripts,  Lessing,  who  is  well  known  both  as 
a  scholar  and  a  poet,  contrived  to  get  a  copy,  parts  of  which 
he  published  at  Brunswick  in  a  work,  entitled :  "  Contribu- 
tions to  history  and  literature  drawn  from  the  archives  of 
the  ducal  library  at  Wolfenbuttel,"f  of  which  he  was  then 
overseer,  under  the  name  of '' Wolfenbuttel  Fragments,  by 
an  anonymous  person."!  ^i^Q  of  these  fragments  made 
their  appearance  in  1777,  and  a  sixth,  in  1778.  They  all 
excited  great  atteiition  and  called  forth  corresponding  an- 
swers. The  last  however  was  particularly  inimical  to 
Christianity  and  calculated  to  injure  the  cause  of  truth,  and 
of  course,  deserved  more  particular  attention.  It  was  enti- 
tled :  "  Fragment  respecting  the  object  of  Jesus  and  his  dis- 
ciples."§  In  it  the  author  generally  extolls  the  morality  of 

*Die  Vernnnftlehre,  als  eine  Anweisung  zum  richtigen  Ge- 
brauche  der  Vernunft  in  dem  Erkenntniss  der  Wahrheit,  aus  zwei 
ganz  natilrlichen  Regeln  der  Eihstimmung  und  des  Widerspruchs 
hergeleitet,  2te  A.,  1758.  8. 

t  Beytrage  zur  Geschichte  und  Litteratur,  aus  den  Schatzen  der 
Herzoglichen  Bibliothek  zu  Wolfenbattel  u.  s.  w. 

X  Wolfenbattelscho  Fragtnento  eines  Ungenannten. 

§  Fragment  von  dem  Zwecke  Jesu  und  seiner  JOnger. 


PREFACE.  V 

the  Gospel  as  noble,  but  he  says  that  Jesus  and  his  apostles 
were  deceivers,  and  maintains  that  the  former  was  not  the 
author  of  the  mysterious  doctrines  afterwards  imputed  to 
him,  and  that  he  never  had  any  intention  of  abolishing  the 
moral,  Levitical  law,  inasmuch  as  he  expressly  asserts  that 
he  came  not  to  abrogate  the  law  and  the  prophets  but  to  see 
them  fulfilled  ;  and  hence,  that  it  was  his  intention  merely 
to  establish  an  earthly  kingdom  among  the  Jews.  He  says 
that  his  disciples  expected  nothing  else  from  him  during  his 
life  time,  and  that  it  was  not  until  after  his  death  that  they 
changed  their  opinion  and  imputed  to  him  other  intentions, 
which  led  them  in  many  instances  to  give  a  diiferent  repre- 
sentation of  things  from  what  they  would  have  done  had 
they  written  their  narratives  before  this  event,  so  that  their 
accounts  are  not  to  be  depended  upon  ;  that  he  and  John 
deceived  the  people,  as,  without  correcting  the  false  notions 
of  the  Jews  or  contradicting  them,  he  gave  himself  out  for 
the  Messiah,  and  consequently  for  a  \vorldly  prince,  and 
John  asserts  that  he  was  first  made  acquainted  with  Jesus 
as  the  Messiah  by  revelation  at  his  baptism,  though  he  had 
extolled  him  as  the  Messiah  before,  and  hence  there  must 
have  been  some  contrivance  between  them  ;  that  Jesus  un- 
der the  cloak  of  religion  had  formed  the  plan  of  a  rebellion, 
of  founding  a  kingdom  of  God  and  establishing  a  royal 
government  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Jewish  state;  that  though 
he  forbade  his  disciples  from  making  known  his  deeds, 
it  was  for  the  purpose  of  maturing  his  plan,  and  be- 
cause the  time  and  circumstances  had  not  arrived  for  him 
to  claim  the  authority  of  king  ;  that  at  the  feast  of  the 
passover,  when  the  time  had  arrived  as  he  thought,  he  ac- 
tually made  a  solemn  entrance  into  Jerusalem,  accompanied 
with  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  went  into  the  temple 
and  formed  an  estimate  of  the  means  of  defence  there  col- 
lected together,  and  the  next  day,  delivered  an  inflammatory 
address  to  the  people  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  them 
against  the  magistracy  and  inducing  them  to  aid  him  in  ob- 
taining the  chief  authority,  but  all  without  success,  for  the 
people  left  him  ;  and  as  there  was  danger  of  his  producing 
more  disturbance  in  the  state,  he  was  taken  and  crucified  ; 
and  that  while  on  the  cross,  he  gave  himself  up  to  devo- 
tion ;  and  tliat  the  exclamation  which  he  uttered  on  that 
A* 


VI  PREFACE. 

occasion  :  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  V 
evinces  his  disappointment  and  shows  that  he  had  had  the 
establishment  of  an  earthly  kingdom  in  view.  Such  is  an 
outline  of  this  fragment,  the  principal  work  whicli  called 
Reinhard  into  the  field.  He  made  his  appearance  at  first 
merely  in  an  academical  address  in  Latin,  and  had  no 
thoughts  of  extending  his  investigations,  until  he  was  induc- 
ed to  do  so  by  the  multiplied  calls  of  his  friends  ;  the  result 
of  which  was  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  the  fol- 
lowing work  in  the  German  language,  in  1781,  entitled  : 
"  An  examination  of  the  plan  devised  by  the  founder  of 
Christianity  for  the  good  of  mankind.  A  contribution  to  the 
evidences  of  this  religion."* 

To  the  W.  F.  however  succeeded  a  great  variety  of  other 
infidel  writers,  who  adopted  the  maxims  of  the  French  Ter- 
rorists and  did  their  utmost  to  overthrow  Christianity, 
among  whom  were  C.  E.  Wiinsch,  K.  F.  Bahrdt,  J.  Mau- 
villon,  and  L.  Paalzow.  Of  these,  Paalzow  was  far  the 
most  fertile  and  bitter.  Bahrdt  however,  who,  after  having 
run  hastily  through  various  systems,  finally  took  up  with 
Naturalism,  though  the  less  learned,  was  far  the  most  popu- 
lar and  dangerous.  He  published  several  infidel  works,  es- 
pecially, "  Popular  or  familiar  letters  respecting  the  Bible," 
and  "  Letters  respecting  the  execution  of  Christ's  plan, 
to  the  inquirer  after  truth, "f  the  object  of  which,  was, 
to  annihilate  all  faith  in  the  divinity  of  Christianity.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  called  all  the  miracles  and  prophecies  of  the 
Bible  in  question;  by  a  shallow  course  of  reasoning,  en- 
deavored to  show  the  futility  of  supposing  that  God  ever 
made  a  revelation  to  man  ;  and,  in  order  to  be  able  to  give 
a  natural  explanation  of  every  thing  relative  to  Christ  and 
Christianity,  he  invented  fables  respecting  the  manner  in 
which  Jesus  obtained  his  early  education  and  imputed  to 
him  the  formation  of  a  secret  society  for  the  promulgation 


*  Versuch  tlber  den  Plan  welchen  der  Stifler  dor  christlichen 
Religion  zum  Besten  der  Menschen  entwarf.  Ein  Beytrag  zu  den 
Beweisen  ftir  die  Wahrheit  dieser  Religion. 

t  Briefe  tlber  die  Bibel,  imVolkstone,  and  Ausftlhrung  des  Plan- 
es und  Zweckes  Jesu. 
Bandchen,  Berlin,  1784—1793. 


PREFACE.  Vll 

of  his  doctrines,  and  sought  to  force  his  hypotheses  upon  the 
world  as  history,  though  supported  by  no  data  whatever.*  As 
several  editions  of  Reinhard's  work  were  called  for,  he  paid 
more  or  less  attention  to  some  one  of  these  writers,  by  which 
means  it  was  increased  from  a  small,  to  quite  a  large  vol- 
ume. To  give  a  historical  view  of  it  in  this  respect  as  well 
as  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the  writer  himself,  I  here  present 
some  extracts  from  the  prefaces  to  each  of  the  four  editions. 
They  are  all  printed  in  the  last  German  edition,  but  are  too 
long  to  be  retained  here  in  full.  In  the  first,  dated  Aug.  the 
1st, 1781,  after  stating  that  he  had  been  induced  to  engage  in 
this  work  by  the  requests  of  his  friends,  he  concludes  with 
his  characteristic  modesty,  thus :  "  The  author  hopes  that 
these  printed  sheets,  among  the  many  thousands  yearly  pub- 
lished, at  least,  will  not  be  considered  as  the  only  superflu- 
ous ones.  Should  he  fairly  succeed  in  exciting  here  and 
there  in  a  noble  soul,  those  feelings  of  reverence,  gratitude 
and  love  towards  the  founder  of  Christianity  with  which  he 
himself  was  filled  when  he  penned  these  thoughts,  how  hap- 
py should  he  be,  how  highly  rewarded  !"  In  the  preface  to 
his  second  edition,  dated  Nov.  the  1st,  1783,  he  says  :  "  The 
additions  and  alterations  which  the  new  impression  of  this 
work  has  received,  were  in  part  required  for  completeness 
and  precision,  and  in  part  rendered  necessary  by  certain 
opinions  which  have  lately  been  advanced  respecting  the 
life,  character  and  views  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  might  easi- 
ly have  been  increased,  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  conduct  the 
reader  through  long  and  tiresome  investigations  in  order  to 
show  him,  that  the  views  of  the  founder  of  Christianity  were' 
far  exalted  above  all  human  schemes,  and  can  be  consider- 
ed in  no  other  light  than  as  constituting  a  benevolent  plan 
devised  by  the  Deity  himself  for  the  good,  for  the  happiness 
of  our  race.  There  is  a  short  course,  by  which,  without 
going  a  round-about  way,  where  few  are  disposed  to  ac- 
company us,  the  reader  can  be  directed  to  that  point  of  ob- 
servation, from  which  this  divine  plan  will  appear  in  all  its 
magnificence,  spreading  out  before  him  in  prospects  trans- 
porting, and   in  consequences  extensive   and  eternal.     My 

*  Vid.  Schrockh,  Chr.  K.  G.  seit  der  Reformation,  6er  Theil,  S, 
108  ff.  273  fF.,  fortgesetzt  von  Tzschirner,  9er  Th.  S.  516  fF. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

desires  are  fulfilled,  my  object  attained,  if  this  short  work 
shall  even  by  its  brevity  in  any  measure  contribute  towards 
leading  my  Christian  brethren  to  this  point  of  observation, 
and  confirming  them  in  that  conviction  of  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity from  which  I  derive  the  greatest  happiness  of  my 
life.''  In  the  preface  to  the  third,  dated  April  the  27th, 
1789,  he  says  :  *'  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  as  well,  if  the 
present  impression  of  this  work  had  been  left  as  short  as  the 
second.  It  has  received  considerable  additions  however  in 
the  first  part,  especially  by  the  inquiries  into  which  I  have 
entered  respecting  the  means  of  which  Jesus  intended  to 
avail  himself  for  the  execution  of  his  plan.  I  sincerely  hope 
that  it  may  not  have  received  additions  tliereby  merely  to 
the  number  of  its  pages.  I  was  for  a  long  time  uncertain 
whether  it  would  be  worth  while  to  say  any  thing  respect- 
ing the  opinion  that  Jesus  intended  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
poses by  the  influence  of  secret  associations,  which  has 
been  advanced  in  several  works  now  well  known,  since  the 
appearance  of  the  last  edition.  At  length,  however,  I  con- 
cluded in  my  own  mind,  that,  at  a  time  when  it  is  so  uni- 
versally believed  that  truth  delights  to  conceal  itself  in  the 
obscurities  of  mystical  alliances,  it  would  be  useful,  and  per- 
haps proper  to  show,  how  entirely  different  He  thought  upon 
the  subject  who  came  into  the  world  that  he  might  bear 
witness  to  the  truth.  That  the  surest  way  of  finding  genu- 
ine, fruitful,  and  heavenly  wisdom,  is  by  listening  to  Him  and 
learning  of  Him,  I  have,  after  repeatedly  meditating  upon  the 
divine  purposes  which  He  accomplished  upon  earth,  lately 
become  so  thoroughly  convinced,  that  I  have  nothing  better 
to  wish  for  any  of  my  brethren  in  this  world  or  importune 
God  to  grant  them,  than  this  experience."  In  the  preface 
to  the  last  edition  edited  by  the  author,  dated  April  the  22d, 
1798,  he  says :  "The  gradual  enlargement  of  this  little 
work,  which  now  appears  for  the  fourth  time,  was  rendered 
necessary  by  the  wants  of  the  age.  Since  the  appearance 
of  the  first  edition  in  1781,  great  and  rapid  changes  have 
taken  place  in  theological  discussions,  and  one  part  and 
another  of  the  present  work  has  been  questioned,  denied, 
or  misrepresented.  Of  course  the  author  so  long  as  he  hop- 
ed for  its  usefulness  could  not  neglect  these  changes.  He 
has  therefore  been  compelled  to  make  great  additions  to  it, 


PUEFACE.  IX 

especially  in  this  last  impression,  in  which  he  has  devoted 
more  particular  attention  to  the  character  of  Christ's  plan, 
than  on  any  former  occasion.  The  author  believes  he  ought 
not  to  be  immediately  condemned  for  the  prolixity  into 
which  he  has  been  led  by  his  efforts  to  give  as  much  per- 
spicuity and  certainty  as  possible,  to  every  point.  None  ac- 
quainted with  what  has  been  written  during  the  last  six  or 
eight  years,  respecting  the  character  and  extent  of  the  ob- 
ject of  Jesus,  can  deem  it  superfluous  for  one  to  have  en- 
deavored with  impartiality  and  without  arbitrarily  assuming 
a  single  principle,  to  determine  what  Jesus  had  particularly 
in  view  from  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists  in  our  posses- 
sion. The  author  has  gone  through  with  another  examina- 
tion of  them  for  this  express  purpose  with  all  the  impartiali- 
ty and  attention  of  which  he  was  capable,  and  in  his  repre- 
sentation of  the  plan  of  Jesus,  he  is  not  conscious  of  having 
taken  a  single  position  which  he  could  not  sustain  by  indu- 
bitable quotations  from  the  Evangelists.  Various  other  ad- 
ditions have  been  made,  which  are  scattered  throughout  the 
body  of  the  work.  To  the  whole  he  has  added  a  copious 
table  of  contents  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  a  general 
view."  This  was  the  last  edition  published  during  the  au- 
thor's life-time.  A  new  edition,  having  long  been  called  for 
in  Germany,  one  was  printed  the  last  year  at  Wittemberg 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  H.  L.  Heubner,  an  Evangelical 
man,  and  Professor  of  Theology  in  that  place,  from  whom  al- 
so it  received  many  valuable  notes  and  a  copious  appendix, 
of  which  mention  is  made  in  his  preface.* 

Such  is  a  short  account  of  the  origin,  object  and  progress 
of  the  present  work.  From  it,  the  reader  may  at  first  infer, 
that  it  is  chiefly  of  a  local  character,  and  therefore  hard- 
ly worth  the  perusal  of  any  but  those  who  wish  to  obtain 
a  historical  view  of  the  religious  controversy  in  Germany. 
Let  such  an  one  however  read  the  parts  already  referred  to, 
before  he  allows  himself  to  come  to  such  a  conclusion. 
The  work  does  indeed  contain  some  things  of  a  local  char- 
acter, especially  in  the  appendix,  which  might  perhaps  have 

*  Fox  more  particular  information  respecting  Reinhard,  consult 
his  Gestiindnisse,  Tzschirner's  Briefe  veranlasst  durch  Reinhard's 
Gestandnisse,  and  Bottiger's  Zeichnung  von  Reinhard. 


X  PREFACE. 

been  dispensed  with,  had  I  felt  authorized  to  make  the 
omission,  or  willing  to  mar  a  book  which  now  constitutes 
a  beautiful  whole.  Had  I  done  so,  I  am  confident  I  should 
have  received  no  thanks  from  the  scholar.  He  however 
who  examines  it  attentively  will  find  far  more  of  a  gen- 
eral than  a  local  character,  especially  in  the  body  of  the 
work.  Reinhard  seldom  mentions  aq  opponent  by  name, 
or  singles  him  out  so  far,  as  to  descend  to  minute  criticism. 
His  object  is  a  general  one  ; — to  ascertain  who  Jesus  Christ  is. 
For  this  purpose,  he  fixes  his  eyes  upon  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  Jesus  as  exhibited  in  the  Evangelists,  and  assuming 
the  attitude  of  an  unprejudiced  inquirer  after  the  truth,  from 
this  historical  information  endeavors  to  ascertain  the  object 
that  Jesus  had  in  view  and  the  means  by  which  he  intended 
to  accomplish  it,  and  shows  that  he  far  excelled  all  the  other 
benefactors  of  our  race  who  had  made  their  appearance  be- 
fore him,  and  evinced  far  greater  strength  of  mind  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances ;  from  which 
he  infers,  that  Jesus  was  in  an  especial  sense  a  teacher  sent 
of  God.  Such  being  the  object  of  Reinhard,  it  was  of 
course,  unnecessary  for  him  to  descend  to  minute  criticism, 
or  single  out  opponents.  His  several  positions  being  es- 
tablished, the  whole  class  of  objections  at  which  he  aimed 
fall  at  once  to  the  ground,  and  the  character  of  Jesus  is 
presented  to  the  world  in  divine  colors,  on  an  eminence  far 
above  every  thing  that  is  merely  human.  How  far  Rein- 
hard has  succeeded  must  be  left  for  the  reader  to  judge. 
His  train  of  thought  is  new,  and  like  a  steady  stream,  flows 
on  increasing  to  the  end,  filling  the  reader  with  new  delight 
as  he  advances.  The  work  is  certainly  a  favorite  one  with 
Evangelical  Christians  in  Germany,  and  has  been  the 
means  there  of  accomplishing  much  good.  "  The  newness 
of  the  object  which  the  author  has  in  view,"  says  Tzschir- 
ner  in  his  continuation  of  Schrockh,  '*  and  the  learning 
and  acuteness  which  he  displays  in  his  investigations,  as 
well  as  the  clearness,  nobleness,  and  impressiveness  of  his 
representations,  have  all  conspired  to  procure  for  this  work 
an  extensive  circulation  and  a  powerful  influence  upon  the 
age."  "  It  has,"  says  Bottiger,  "  been  the  means  of  con- 
firming thousands  in  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  internal  strength  and   the  conclusiveness 


PREFACE.  XI 

of  the  reasoning,  but  also  the  genuine,  historical  skill  dis- 
played in  the  invention  and  the  arrangement  of  the  points 
of  comparison,  as  well  as  the  newness  of  the  results  drawn 
from  long  established  matters  of  fact,  is  considered  as  the 
best  apology  for  Christianity  that  modern  times  has  produc- 
ed." 

Those  acquainted  with  the  work  in  our  own  country, 
have  also  formed  an  exalted  estimate  of  its  worth,  and  long 
felt  anxious  to  see  it  presented  to  the  public  in  an  English 
dress  ;  and  it  was  from  a  knowledge  of  their  views  in  this 
respect,  especially  those  of  Prof  Stuart,  that  I  was  first  led 
to  think  of  translating  it ;  and  the  fact,  that  every  thing 
which  throws  additional  light  upon  the  Gospel  and  aids  in 
reclaiming  the  wanderer,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
world,  and  must  be,  so  long  as  a  doubter  remains,  will,  I 
hope,  furnish  a  sufiicient  apology  for  my  making  the  attempt. 
Few  doubtless  will  appreciate  the  difficulties  I  have  had  to 
encounter  in  the  progress  of  the  undertaking.  My  object 
has  been  to  present  the  author's  meaning  and  spirit  in  Eng- 
lish  phraseology  without  any  regard  to  his.  That  I  have 
in  part  failed  in  some  instances  is  to  be  expected.  How  far 
I  have  succeeded  must  be  left  for  others  to  judge.  Rein- 
hard's  style  is  clear,  copious  and  flowing,  and  distinguish- 
ed for  simplicity  and  strength ;  but  Ciceronian  in  its  cast, 
thoroughly  German,  and  often  composed  of  long  periods ; 
and  hence,  of  difficult  construction  in  many  cases  for  the 
translator.  I  have  therefore  often  been  obliged  to  make 
changes  in  the  form  of  the  sentences  and  the  particular  aspect 
of  the  idea,  in  doing  which  I  have  aimed  at  preserving  the 
main  current  of  thought.  No  other  alterations  have  been 
made.  Both  the  notes  and  the  appendix  are  preserved  as 
in  the  German,  except  that  in  regard  to  the  former,  I  have 
sometimes  referred  to  an  English  original  instead  of  a 
translation,  and  occasionally  added  a  remark  of  my  own 
which  is  designated  as  such.  T  have  also  in  the  body  of  the 
work,  inserted  references  to  Heubner's  appendix  (which  are 
Heubner's  in  other  respects,)  and  for  the  sake  of  conven- 
ience, numbered  the  sections  and  added  heads  to  the  minor 
divisions.  To  those  who  have  kindly  aided  in  conducting 
the  work  through  the  press,  and  to  the  Rev.  Professor  Stu- 
art for  the  counsel  and  encouragement  which  he  has  from 


Xll  PREFACE. 

time  to  time  afforded  me,  I  here  tender  my  grateful  ac- 
knowledgements. That  the  fervent  prayers  of  the  author  as 
well  as  those  of  his  able  German  editor  may  be  answered, 
and  the  work  as  it  now  is,  made  the  means  of  directing  some 
and  strengthening  others,  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  trans- 
lator. 

OLIVER  A.  TAYLOR. 

Andover,.Theol.  Sera. 
Sept.  6th  1831. 


PREFACE 


TO  THE  FIFTH  GERMAN  EDITION BY  DR.  HEUBNER. 


Fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  first  sketch  of  the  fol- 
lowing work  made  its  appearance  in  a  Latin  treatise. 
(Consilium  bene  merendi  de  universo  humano  genere  in- 
genii  supra  hominem  elati  documentum.  Prolusio,  qua 
ad  orat.  auspic.  Profess.  Philosophiae  extraord.  Jul.  1780 
publico  recitandum  invitat.  F.  V.  R.  32  S.  in  4to,  printed 
in  the  Opusc.  Acad.  I.  234—267.)  The  interest  which 
this  sketch  excited,  both  on  account  of  the  genius  and  the 
historical  knowledge  which  it  displayed,  induced  the  au- 
thor to  undertake  its  execution  in  German,  four  editions  of 
which  were  published  from  1781  to  1798,  each  new  one 
with  considerable  additions.  The  first  contained  169  pages, 
the  second  220,  the  third,  which  received  considerable  ad- 
ditions respecting  the  morality  of  Jesus  and  the  means  by 
which  he  intended  to  carry  his  plan  into  effect,  in  opposition 
to  Bahrdt,  contained  310,  together  with  a  dedication  to  "  the 
author's  old  and  intimate  friend.  Abbot  Henke  to  whose  sug- 
gestion this  work  is  indebted  for  its  existence ;"  and  the 
fourth,  512  pages.  In  this  last  edition,  the  first  part  was 
worked  over  throughout,  the  second  enriched  with  what  is 
said  respecting  the  founders  of  religions,  while  the  third  was 
changed  but  little,  and  in  the  conclusion,  not  at  all.  As 
Bottiger  anticipated  in  his  memoirs  of  Reinhard,  the  fourth 
edition  is  not  to  be  the  last.  The  want  of  a  new  one  has 
long  been  felt,  and  the  continued  approbation  in  which  the 
work  has  been  held  since  its  first  publication,  affords  ample 

B 


xir  heubner's  preface. 

security  for  it.*  Every  reader  would  doubtless  have  pre- 
ferred to  receive  this  new  edition  from  Reinhard's  own 
hand, — at  least,  to  receive  it  with  his  own  additions. 
Twelve  short  notes  however  is  all  that  has  been  found 
among  his  papers,  to  which,  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Otto  of 
Dresden  his  last  amanuensis,  I  have  had  access. 

Perhaps  it  was  presumptuous  in  me  to  undertake  the  su- 
perintendence of  the  publication  of  this  edition,  burdened 
as  I  am  with  the  twofold  labor  that  comes  upon  me  in  at- 
tending to  the  duties  of  my  office,  and  having  only  frag- 
ments of  time  left,  and  of  course  being  in  a  very  unfavora- 
ble condition,  for  scientific  pursuits.  This  consideration, 
however,  though  I  believe  it  ought  to  entitle  me  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  reader,  would  not  allow  me  to  shrink  back 
from  the  undertaking,  valuable  as  the  work  is,  it  having 
been  one  of  my  favorites  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  under 
a  debt  of  respectful  gratitude  as  I  am  to  its  worthy  author ; 
and  with  the  approbation  of  the  Lord,  a  blessing  will  un- 
doubtedly be  the  result.  The  object  for  which  Reinhard 
composed  this  work,  and  respecting  which  he  so  often  and 
decidedly  expressed  his  opinion,  the  advancement  of  faith 
in  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  has  been  accomplished  with  re- 
gard to  many  readers,  and  some  even  of  the  more  illiterate 
class,  and,  as  we  hope,  will  be  still  farther  advanced  ;  and 
my  prayer  is,  that  in  this  way,  this  work  may  contribute  to 
renew  our  recollections  of  a  man  of  whom  an  honorable  me- 
morial has  been  erected  among  us  by  the  Chief  Board  of  Di- 
rectors in  Ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  that,  they  have  had  the 
goodness  to  purchase  GratFs  excellent  original  portrait  of 
him  for  the  seminary  church  in  this  place,  in  which  Rein- 
hard's able  pulpit  talents  were  first  developed. 


*  Reviews  expressing  the  most  decided  approbation  of  this  work, 
have  appeared  in  the  Allg.  Deulsch.  Bibl.  LI.  375.  CII.  38.  Neue 
Allff.  D.  Bibl.  XLVII.  63.  Gott.  Anz.  1784.  S.  964.  Hall.  G.  Z. 
1784.  S.  337.  A.  L.  Z.  1790.  II.  689.  Tubing.  Anz.  1799.  S.  290. 
Hall.  Journal  f.  Pred.  XXXVI.  217.  Gabler,  Neuestes  Theol.  Journ. 
III.  24.  In  addition  to  the  Danish  translation,  a  French  translation 
also  made  its  appearance,  entitled :  Essai  sur  le  plan  forme  par  le 
Fondateur  de  la  Religion  Chretienne  pour  le  bonheur  du  genre  hu- 

main.  Par trad,  de  I'Allemand  par  J.  L.  Alex.  Durnas.  Dresden, 

1799. 


HEUBNER  S  PREFACE.  XV 

The  text  of  the  last  edition  remains  unchanged  in  any 
respect ;  for  it  would  have  been  unbecoming  in  me  to  un- 
dertake to  work  it  over  or  make  corrections  in  it,  and  proba- 
bly in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  and  feelings  of 
every  reader,  for  all  are  delighted  with  Reinhard's  per- 
formance, and  anxious  to  obtain  possession  of  it  again  in  its 
original  form.  The  additions  which  I  have  made  consist  in 
part  of  notes  at  the  bottom  of  the  page,  of  an  exegetical,  his- 
torical and  literary  character,  each  of  which  is  included  in 
brackets  ;  and  in  part,  of  an  appendix  containing  such  ad- 
ditional matter  as  is  called  for  by  the  late  investigations 
which  have  been  made  respecting  Reinhard's  work. 
Those  critics  who  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  circle 
of  science,  and  furnished  with  such  a  literary  apparatus  as  I 
have  at  command,  will  find  much  indeed  to  add.  I  was 
obliged  to  be  parsimonious  in  this  respect  to  prevent  the  size 
of  the  book  from  increasing  beyond  due  bounds. 

H.L.  HEUBNER. 

Wittemberg,  April  4th  1830. 


CONTENTS, 


Introduction. 

Page. 

§  1.  From  the  character  of  Jesus  and  the  salutary  effects  of  Chris- 
tianity, proofs  have  often  been  drawn  in  favor  of  the  truth 
of  this  religion 1 

§  2.  It  has  seldom  been  observed,  however,  that  the  mere  plan 
devised  by  Jesus  for  the  good  of  mankind,  is  of  such  impor- 
tance and  extent  as  to  designate  a  man  upon  whom  had 
been  conferred  the  dignity  of  the  most  exalted  ambassador  of 
God 2 

§  3.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  we  must, 

(1)  ascertain  from  history  what  Jesus  had  in  view, .         .         .       3 

(2)  show  that  no  one  before  Jesus  ever  had  similar  views,       .       3 

(3)  consider  what  peculiarities  such  a  plan  as  Christ's  presup- 
poses a  mind  to  possess  ;  and  if  it  can  be  shown  that  his 
mind  was  unique  in  its  kind,  great  without  example,  and 
formed  and  developed  in  a  manner  altogether  peculiar,  then 
we  may  draw  the  conclusion,  that  Jesus  was  the  greatest 
benefactor  of  our  race  ever  sent  of  God         ....      4 


PART  FIRST. 

Sketch  of  the  plan  devised  by  jesus  for  the  good  of  mankind. 

§  4.  We  are  not  here  to  speak  of  what  theologians  call  the  office 
of  Christ,  but  merely  of  what  his  plan  has  in  common  with 
the  benevolent  plans  of  other  venerable  men        ...       5 

§  5.  We  shall  not  even  attempt  to  refute  what  has  lately  been 
said  respecting  the  object  which  Christ  had  in  view.  We 
shall  merely  collect  together  the  accounts  of  his  friends 
upon  this  subject  and  give  them  a  connected  representation       5 

§  6.  These  accounts,  however,  are  perfectly  credible,  and  to  be 

depended  upon .0 

§  7.  To  form  a  correct  conception  of  the  plan  of  Jesus  from  them, 
we  must  attend  to  its  compass,  its  character,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  to  be  carried  into  effect  ...       7 

I.  The  compass  of  Christ's  plan. 

§  8.  A  disposition  has  been  evinced  by  some  to  maintain  that 
Jesus  acted  solely  for  his  own  nation  and  aimed  at  the  res- 
toration of  genuine  Mosaicism -      8 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 

§  9.  From  a  consideration  of  Christ's  condition  however  it  is  ev- 
ident, that  whatever  his  object  may  have  been,  he  was 
obliged  to  make  his  first  appearance  and  commence  his  ef- 
forts as  a  religious  reformer,  among  his  own  people     .         .       9 

§  10.  That  he  actually  intended  however  to  erect  an  establish- 
ment wholly  new  and  entirely  different  from  that  of  the 
Jews,  he  has  so  frequently  and  explicitly  declared,  as  to  place 
the  matter  beyond  all  doubt 10 

§  11.  This  will  be  rendered  still  plainer  if  we  can  show,  that 
this  plan  was  of  universal  extent  and  embraced  mankind  at 

large 17 

And  that  the  plan  of  Jesus  was  universal  without  limitation, 
is  evident; 

(a)  from  his  conduct, 17 

(b)  from  his  language  respecting  it^ 19 

(c)  and  finally,  it  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  doctrines  which 

he  inculcated  ; 24 

§  12.  and  hence,  the  position,  that  Jesus  was  engaged  in  the 
execution  of  a  plan  of  the  most  universal  extent,  derives 
the  greatest  degree  of  probability  of  which  such  a  thing  is 
capable 26 

II.  The  character  of  Christ's  plan. 

§  13.  He  commenced  his  career  with  the  declaration  that  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  kingdom  of  God,  was  at  hand  and 
to  be  established  by  him  ; 28 

§  14.    and  upon   making  it,  appealed  to  certain  expectations 

which  already  existed  among  his  countrymen,     .         .         .29 

§  15.  in  accordance  with  which,  the  Jews  hoped  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  universal  monarchy         30 

§  16.  That  by  the  appellation  kingdom  of  God,  however,  he  un- 
derstood no  such  thing  as  an  earthly  constitution,  is  evident, 

(a)  in  part  from  his  actions,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .30 

(b)  and  in  part  from  his  declarations 31 

§  17.  If  the  heavenly  kingdom  however  which  he  intended  to 

establish  was  not  an  earthly  monarchy,  it  must  have  been  a 

moral  institution 33 

That  it  was  such,  he  has  said 

1.  in  plain  language,         ........     33 

2.  in  figurative  descriptions,     .......     36 

3.  and  in  John,  in  the  most  definite  terms        .         .         .         .37 
§18.  Hence,  it  must  have  been  his  intention  to  make  religion, 

morality,  and  society,  the  principal  objects  of  improvement.    40 

Religion. 

§  19.  The  religion  then  prevalent  both  among  the  Jews  and 

heathen  was  a  senseless  superstition  prejudicial  to  morality.     40 

§  20.  Jesus  intended  to  destroy  this  superstition  by  every  where 
spreading  the  doctrine  of  one  true  God,  making  it  the  popu- 
lar belief,  and  representing  this  God  as  the  Father  of  man- 
kind       43 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

§  21.  This  representation  rendered  religion  clear  and  simple, 
destroyed  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  priesthood,  and  in- 
stead of  the  sacrificial  service,  introduced  a  worship  of  God 
in  spirit  and  in  truth 45 

§  22.  Hence  also  the  doctrines  of  the  providence  of  God,  the 
reconcilableness  of  God,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  re- 
ceived additional  light  and  confirmation       .         .         .         .46 

Morality. 

§  23.  Morality  required  no  less  improvement,  as  it  was  not  what 

it  ought  to  be,  either  among  the  Jews  or  the  heathen  .  .  48 
§  24.  Now  as  the  religion  which  Jesus  taught,  was  a  living  faith 
in  God  the  Father  of  men,  so  his  morality  resolved  itself  into 
love  to  the  supreme  Father  and  to  men  his  children  .  .  50 
§  25.  Jesus  has  declared  in  the  most  definite  terms  in  what  this 
love  must  consist}  namely,  in  a  disposition  to  imitate  God, 
evinced  by  endeavors  after  pure  morality  and  the  promotion 

of  the  general  good 51 

§  26.  By  means  of  this  principle,  morality  was  placed  in  its  true 

relation  to  religion, 54 

§  27.  was  purified, .55 

§  28.  was  secured  against  fanaticism  and  extravagance,     .         .    56 
§  29.  and  rendered  intelligible  to  common  intellects           .         .     58 
§  30.  And  this  love  to  God  and  man  was  the  power  by  means  of 
which  Jesus  intended  to  ennoble  mankind  and  render  thern 
happy    .         . 59 

SOCIETT. 

§  31.  Hence,  also,  he  directed  his  attention  to  society,  which, 
owing  to  the  prevalence  of  a  selfish  spirit,  was  then  in  the 
greatest  disorder .     60 

§  32.  True,  he  did  not  intend  directly  to  meddle  at  all  with  po- 
litical affairs .61 

§  33.  But  he  was  not  on  that  account  indifferent  to  the  temporal 

welfare  of  his  followers 62 

§  34.  The  civil  institutions  in  existence,  however,  were  not  to 

be  violently  attacked,  but  left  to  their  fate,  .         .         .         .63 

§  35.  and  by   means  of  religion  and  morality  preparation  was 

to  be  made  for  better  regulations  ......     65 

§  36.  Jesus  intended  therefore  to  commence  his  reformation  by 

improving  the  domestic  relations 65 

§  37.  He  intended  to  improve  these  by  animating  every  one 
with  a  love  to  act  for  the  state  and  all  parts  of  the  political 
union,    ....  67 

§  38.  and  by  connecting  mankind  together  as  close  as  possible 
and  giving  them  the  highest  degree  of  cultivation  and  per- 
fection .         .        . 69 


XX  CONTENTS. 

III.  The  manner  in  which  Christ's  plan  was  to  be  carried  into 

EFFECT. 

§  39.  Jesus  might  have  employed  power,  a  secret  society,  or  the 

gentlest  means  possible  for  this  purpose         .         .         .         .72 

Jesus  did  not  think  of  employing  power. 
§  40.  This  is  evident  from  his  declarations,  .         .         .         .72 

§41.  and  the  whole  tenor  of  his  conduct ;  .         .         .         .76 

§  42.  and  appeals  are  made  in  vain  to  his  last  entrance  into  Je- 
rusalem to  render  the  contrary  probable        .         .         .         .79 

Jesus  did  not  think  of  employing  a  secret  society. 
§  43.  It  has  of  late  been  pretended  that  Christ  employed  a  se- 
cret society 84 

§  44.  Though  it  is  difficult  to  make  every  thing  as  clear  in  this 

respect  as  one  could  wish, 86 

§  45.  yet  it  is  undeniable,  that  we  find  not  the  least  trace  of  the 
existence  of  a  secret  society,  by  which  Jesus  apparently  in- 
tended to  operate,  either  in  his  external  connexions,    .         .     87 

§46.  or  his  institutions  of  instruction  ; 90 

§  47.  in  his  private  life, 95 

§  48.  the  language  and  expressions  of  his  friends,      .         .         .98 
§49.  or  in  their  enterprises  after  his  death  .         .         .         .  101 

§  50.  Neither  can  what  Clement  and  Origen  have  said  respect- 
ing higher  mysteries,  existing  in  the   bosom  of  the  church,  104 
§  51.  nor  any  thing  that  is  known  respecting  the  Gnostic  sects 

be  so  interpreted  as  to  imply  the  existence  of  such  a  society.  106 
§  52.  We  have  the  express  declarations  of  Jesus  however  to  the 

purpose,         ..........  108 

§  53.  and  other  circumstances  which  are  altogether  incompati- 
ble with  the  supposition  of  the  existence  of  such  a  fraternity.  110 

Jesus  chose  the  gentlest  jieans  possible. 

§  54.  Jesus  therefore  intended  to  accomplish  his  object,  simply 
by  means  of  convincing  instruction,  and  such  institutions  as 
were  adapted  to  advance  morality,         .         .         .         .         .  112 

§  55.  and  he  commanded  hia  apostles  to  do  the  same  .      ,  .  117 


PART  SECOND. 

No  GREAT  man  OF  ANTIQ^UITY  BtFORE  JESUS,  EVER  DEVISED  A  BENEV- 
OLENT PLAN  FOB  THE  WHOLE  HUMAN  FAMILY. 

§  56.  Fairness  necessary  in  a  critical  examination  of  that  por- 
tion of  antiquity  before  Jesus 121 

§  57.  From  general  principles,  however,  it  is  probable,  even 
now,  that  we  shall  light  upon  no  man  in  all  antiquity,  who 
resembles  Jesus  in  regard  to  that  enlargement  of  thought 
and  benevolent  goodness  of  heart  which  embrace  all  man- 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

kind  in  their  grasp  ;  inasmuch  as  all  the  old  nations  were 

very  destitute  of  humanity, 122 

§  58.  and  people  had  but  little  connexion  with  each  other  .         .  124 
§  59.  Among  the  ancients,  therefore,  we  shall  doubtless  seldom 
meet  with  those  views  and  operations  which  embraced  many 

nations ; 127 

§  60.  and  if  so,  shall  meet  with  them  in  the  spirit  of  conquest  .  127 
§  61.  This  is  so  much  the  more  probable  from  the  fact,  that  the 
religions  of  antiquity  were  rather  prejudicial  to  extensive 
benevolence,  than  favorable  .         .         .         .         .         .  130 

§  62.  Let  us  however  carefully  survey  the  benefactors  of  man- 
kind to  be  met  with  in  antiquity 132 

Founders  of  states,  and  legislators. 

§  62.  Whatever  the  founders  of  states,  and  legislators  had  in 
view,  it  is  evident,  that,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  they  were 
obliged  to  attend  entirely  to  their  own  nations  and  exclude 
others  from  their  plans 133 

§  63.  Nor  do  the  legislators  of  Rome  constitute  an  exception  in 

this  respect .  135 

§  64.  Hence,  most  of  those  who  founded  states,  were  so  far  re- 
moved from  possessing  universal  benevolence,  that  they 
sought  to  fill  their  fellow  citizens  with  a  spirit  of  war  and 
aversion  towards  strangers  137 

Heroes  AND  defenders  of  their  country. 
§  65.  Antiquity  had  humane  heroes  and  patriots,  who,  for  their 

services,  undoubtedly  deserved  well  of  their  fellow  citizens.  140 
§  66.  Their  services,  however,  could  not  be  performed  without 

injuring  other  nations 142 

Wise  kings  and  statesmen. 
§  67.  Wise  kings  and  statesmen  are  frequently  to  be  met  with  in 

the  old  world  who  were  destitute  of  the  spirit  of  conquest  j     143 
§  68.  but  they  were  always  confined  to  single  nations          .         .  144 
§  69.  The  plans  which  antiquity  attributes  to  Hercules  and  Osiris, 
are  mere  fictions,  and  yet,  they  come  far  short  of  being  wor- 
thy of  a  comparison  with  that  formed  by  the  founder  of 
Christianity 145 

Philosophers  and  learned  men. 

§  70.  In  searching  among  the  philosophers  and  learned  men  of 
antiquity  for  their  respective  plans,  we  have  reference  in 
part  to  the  influence  which  they  actually  exerted  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  age,  and  in  part,  to  the  systems  which  they 
formed 152 

§  71.  Among  the  Greeks,  their  influence  before  the  time  of 
Socrates,  was  very  insignificant,  and  that  of  the  Sophists 
was  positively  injurious 153 

§  72.  The  plan  however  which  is  ascribed  to  Pythagoras  is  neith- 
er so  wise  nor  so  great  and  benevolent  as  is  ordinarily  sup- 
posed   155 


XXU  CONTENTS. 

§  73.  Nor  did  Socrates  extend  his  views  beyond  his  own  little 

country 158 

§  74.  His  pupils,  who  separated  into  numerous  parties,  formed 
new  systems  indeed,  but  without  exerting  a  very  positive 
influence  in  improving  the  nation  or  the  vile  though  popu- 
lar religion  then  prevalent  ......  161 

§75.  What  Evemerus  wrote  respecting  the  prevailing  supersti- 
tion was  not  intended  for  the  destruction  of  its  authority     .  167 

§  76.  Among  the  Romans,  the  influence  of  philosophy  was  never 
so  great  or  extensive  as  among  the  Greeks,  and  consequent- 
ly, it  was  very  inconsiderable       ......  168 

§  77.  If  we  confine  our  attention  to  the  systems  of  the  philoso- 
phers merely,  we  must  conclude,  that  those  who  made  the 
chief  good  to  consist  in  the  perception  of  truth,  in  indolence, 
or  voluptuousness,  could  not  resolve  upon  laborious  plans    .  170 

§78.  For  those  who  conceded  to  virtue^  the  rank  of  the  chief 
good,  a  way  stood  open  indeed  to  the  formation  of  such 
plans,  but  none  of  them  ever  entered  in  it ;  .         .         .         .  173 

§  79.  and    what  proved  particularly  prejudicial  to  the  Stoics, 

was,  the  extravagance  of  their  systems  of  morality       .         .174 

Founders  of  reliwions. 

§  80.  Most  of  the  founders  of  Religions  are  unknown  to  us  .        .  177 

§81.  Moses, .178 

§  82.  Zoroaster, ,180 

§  83.  and  Confucius,  are  the  only  persons  who  can  be  consider- 
ed as  belonging  to  this  place,  and  none  of  these  ever  con- 
cerned himself  with  a  plan  of  universal  extent     .         .         .  183 
§  84.  From  the  priests  of  antiquity,  nothing  was  to  be  looked  for 

in  this  respect ; .         .  184 

§  85.  and  as  we  search  in  vain  among  the  poets  for  the  idea  •£ 
such  a  plan,  we  may  truly  say,  that  the  plan  of  Jesus  was 
entirely  new  and  without  example 186 


PART  THIRD. 

From  the  all  comprehensive  and  benevolent  plan,  devised 
by  jesus  for  the  good  of  the  world,  it  follows,  that  he 
vtas  an  extraordinary  man,  and  a    teacher  sent  of  god. 

§  86.  Before,  from  the  plan  of  Jesus,  we  draw  any  inference 
in  his  favor,  we  must,  first,  show  that  this  plan  was  not  a 
chimerical  one  ; 189 

§  87.  second,  prove  that  in  Jesus,  were  united  the  most  exalted 

qualities  a  human  mind  can  possess ;    .         .         .         .         .  189 

§  88.  and  if  we  can  show  that  these  qualities  could  not  have 
been  developed  in  him  according  to  the  ordinary  laws  of 
the  human  mind,  it  necessarily  follows,  third,  that  he  was 
under  the  especial  influence  of  God  .  ....  190 


CONTENTS.  XXUl 


I.  Christ's  plan  not  a  chimerical  one. 

§  89.  Christ's  plan  looked  upon   by  some  as  an  impracticable 

dream 190 

§  90.  That  it  is  not,  evident  first  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  gen- 
erally speaking  impossible  for  a  man  by  means  of  a  benevo- 
lent plan  to  operate  for  the  good  of  all  ....  193 

§  91.  Second,  because  the  idea  of  establishing  a  universal  reli- 
gion, contains  nothing  impossible,  when.it  is  contemplated 
with  its  appropriate  definitions,    .         .         ...         .  199 

§  92.  and  this  religion  is  moral,  intelligible,  and  spiritual  .         .  201 

§  93,  And  third,  because  the  religion  established  by  Jesus,  com- 
prehends every  thing  requisite  for  a  universal  religion,        .  206 

§  94.  can  be  expressed  in   every  language,  ....  218 

§  95.  and  loses  nothing  by  being  divested  of  all  secular  power  in 
the  new  states  that  arise  before  us         .         .         .         .         .  S20 

II,  Jesus  thb  greatest,  most  exalted  of  men. 

§  96.  If,  however,  the  plan  of  Jesus  is  a  practicable  one,  shall  we 
not  thence  be  justified  in  concluding  that  he  was  the  great- 
est and  most  exalted  of  men  ? 221 

§  97.  The  ingredients  of  genuine  human  greatness,  undoubtedly 
are  true  wisdom,  strength  of  soul,  an  invincible  power  of  the 
lotW  to  bring  it  to  the  performance  of  duty,  and  finally,  ex- 
pansive benevolence        .         .         .         .         .         ...  222 

§  98,  Jesus  possessed  all  these  qualities  in  great  and  harmoni- 
ous perfection,  df  the  like  of  which  we  find  no  example  in 
all  history     ......         ....  224 

§  99.  His  plan  affords  proof  that  he  possessed  the  highest  human  ' 
wisdom,  whether  we  consider  the  outlines  of  it  as  sketched 
by  Jesus  in  general, 225 

§  100.  or  each  part  of  it  in  particular 227 

§  101.  This  plan  places  his  strength  of  soul,  his  bold,  and  fault- 
less love  of  duty,  in  a  clear  light ;         .         .         .         .         .232 

§  102.  and  presents  us  with  an  instance  of  boundless  benevo- 
lence towards  mankind,  and  a  goodness  of  heart  altogether 
superior  and  without  example  ; 238 

§  103.  and  these  qualities  existed  in  him  not  only  in  the  highest 
degree,  but  the  greatest  harmony 241 

III,  Jesus -AN  extraordinary  teacher  beft  of  cod. 

§  104,  The  question  now  as  it  were  forces  itself  upon  us,  wheth- 
er these  qualities  were  or  could  have  been  developed  in  him, 
according  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  human  nature  .         .  242 

§  105.  This  question  has  been  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and 
an  investigation  instituted,  to  show,  by  what  means  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  things,  Jesus  could  have  been  made  what 
he  became 245 

§  106.  The  meaning  of  this  question  more  accurately  defined      .  248 


XXIV.  CONTENTS. 

§  107.  With  this  definition  before  us,  we  shall  find,  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  discover  favorable  circumstances  enough 
to  account  for  such  a  development ;  .         .         .         .  249 

§  108.  that  a  far  greater  influence  has  been  attributed  to  these 

circumstances  than  they  could  have  had ;     .         ...  253 

§  109.  and  finally,  that  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  natural 

education  of  Jesus  have  been  passed  over  in  silence    .         .  255 

§  110.  Judging  from  the  circumstances  in  which  Jesus  was  plac- 
ed, we  shall  find  it  much  more  certain  that  neither  his  wis- 
dom,  257 

111.  nor  bis  strength  of  soul,     ......         .264 

112.  nor  his  feelings  of  benevolence,  could  have  been  develop- 
ed without  a  high  divine  influence 269 

§  113.  It  is  reasonable  therefore  tolook  npon  him  as  the  most  ex- 
alted ambassador  of  God,  and  as  our  Saviour        .         .         .  271 


CONTENTS  OF   THE   APPENDIX. 

k.  Respecting  the  manner  in  which  Reinhard  has  apprehended 

the  plan  of  Jesus 273 

B.  Concerning   the   first   quality   and   the   original    extent   of 

Christ's  plan 278 

I.  It  was  not  originally  in  respect  to  its  external  character,  a 
national  theocracy 278 

II.  The  universality  of  Christ's  plan  was  not  added  by  the  E- 
vangelists  as  a  fiction  drawn  from  the  result         .         .         .  288 

C.  Respecting  Kestner's  hypothesis  of  the  early  extension  of 

Christianity  by  means  of  a  secret  order         .         .         .         .298 

D.  Whether  the  idea  of  founding  a  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth 

is  to  be  met  with  before  the  time  of  Christ;         .         .         .  316 

I.  («)  in  Hermes  Trismegistus, 316 

(i)  in  Plato, .         ...         .318 

(c)  among  the  Stoics, ■     .         .  324 

II.  among  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,        .         .         .  328 

III.  in  John  the  Baptist .337 

IC.  Whether  Jesus  received  his  education  and  his  principles 

from  the  school  of  the  Essenes 341 

F.  A  critical  examination  of  the  objections  which  have  been 
made  to  the  legitimacy  of  Reinhard's  conclusion  and  con- 
siderations which  add  to  its  strength 351 

I.  Critical  examination,  etc 351 

II.  Considerations,  etc 354 


INTRODUCTION. 


§  1.  The  Character  of  Jesus,  the  founder  of  the 
Christian  religion,  is  so  unique,  so  extraordinary,  and  ven- 
erable, that  even  the  enemies  of  this  religion,  if  they  are 
capable  of  perceiving  what  true  greatness  is,  must  ac- 
knowledge that  it  has  not  its  like  in  history.  Of  this 
circumstance  those  learned  men*  who  have  written  in  de- 
fence of  Christianity,  long  since  made  such  use  as  to  ren- 
der it  superfluous  now  for  me  to  repeat  their  observations. 

Still  oftener  have  the  salutary  effects  produced  by 
Christianity  in  the  world,  been  spoken  of,  for  the  purpose 
of  thence  deducing  the  conclusion,  that  its  author  is  ac- 

*  [Duchal,  VermuthungsgrUnde  fUr  die  Wahrlieit  und  Gottl.  d. 
chr.  Rel.,  Iste  ,Rede,  GUstrow,  1773 ;  Vernet,  Traite  de  la  Vi- 
rile de  la  Rel.  Chr.,  Tom.  III.  77 — fin.,  according  to  Turretin's 
Dilucidatt.  L.  B.  1748,  II.  150  seqq.;  Less,  Religion,  II.  732—759. 
The  following  are  also  particularly  worthy  of  attention  :  Eber- 
hard,  Amyntor,  S.  218 — 243  ;  Cams,  Psychologie  der  Hebrfter, 
S.  293—322;  J.  G.  Muller,  Vora  Glauberi  der  Christen,  I.  84—176; 
Schwarz,  Evangelisch  christl.  Ethick,  Anm.  zu  §  105;  Dwight, 
System  of  Theology,  Vol.  II.  Serm.  51 — 54;  [Wilson,  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  Lect.  XVII.  Tr.]  Anna  Maria  von  Schurmann  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  giving  a  written  representation  of  Christ,  but  as 
she  could  never  satisfy  herself,  and  the  thought  struck  her,  that  it  was 
like  trying  to  portray  the  sun  with  a  coal,  she  desisted  from  the  at- 
tempt, acknowledging  that  she  had  found  a  Christian's  life  to  be  the 
best  representation  that  can  be  given  of  the  life  of  Christ.  Vid. 
Deutsch.  Merkur,  J.  1777,  Quart.  2.  S.  178  if.  ;  Hess,  Einige 
Characterzilge  unsers  Herrn ;  in  der  neuesten  oder  3ten  A-  von : 
Lehre,  Thaten,  «fec.  u.  H.,  II.  145— 173,  im  20  Bde.  of  his  Scripture 
Biography.  This  perhaps  was  the  reason  why  Niemeyer  stopped 
short  of  the  characteristics  of  Jesus ;  and  why  Reinhard,  System  d. 
Moral,  II.  250.  or  276.  Anm.  y,  was  unable  to  find  a  perfect  descrip- 
tion  of  Christ's  life.] 
1 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

tually  the  Saviour  and  preserver  of  men,  and  his  system 
of  instruction  the  most  valuable  gift  that  God  could  have 
bestowed  upon  us. 

§  2.  Notwithstanding  these  considerations,  however, 
which,  perhaps  of  all  the  proof  adduced  in  favor  of  Chris- 
tianity, are  the  best  adapted  to  touch  and  win  the  human 
heart,  one  circumstance  has  been  overlooked*  which  was 
equally  deserving  of  attention.  It  has  not  been  particu- 
larly thought  of,  that  the  mere  plan,  which  Jesus  formed 
for  improving  our  race  and  rendering  them  happy,  sup- 
poses a  wisdom  and  greatness  of  mind,  a  strength  and 
firmness  of  soul,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  goodness  of 
heart,  and  extent  of  benevolence,  the  like  of  which  had 
never  been  found  in  any  man.  It  has  not  been  observed, 
that  this  plan  was  of  a  very  peculiar  kind,  and  altogether 
distinguished  from  every  plan  that  had  been  sketched  and 
perfected  by  the  most  exaked  geniuses  and  the  greatest 
benefactors  of  mankind,  by  its  embracing  the  whole  hu- 
man family.  The  plan  devised  by  the  author  of  Chris- 
tianity for  the  good  of  our  race,  bears  the  impress  of  the 
superiority  and  dignity  of  the  greatest  mind  that  ever 
thought  and  acted  upon  earth,  and  must  have  procured 
for  its  author  this  rank,  had  no  part  of  it  ever  been  car- 
ried into  execution.  No  human  mind  before  him  ever 
conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  kingdom  of  God,  a 
kingdom  of  truth,  morality,  and  happiness,  and  collecting 
within  it,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth ; — the  idea  of  founding 
an  order  of  things,  which  should  be  advantageous  both  to 
individuals,  and  communities,  and  enable  human  nature  to 
attain  the  highest  degree  of  excellence ; — the  great  and 
truly  divine  idea  of  radically  curing  all  the  evil  with  which 
humanity  is  afflicted,  and  raising  up  for  the  Creator  an 
entirely  new,  and  better  generation.  No  sage,  no  ruler, 
no  hero  of  antiquity  was  ever  capable  of  such  enlargement, 

*  [Eusebius  indeed  has  hinted  at  this  proof  in  his  Demonstrat. 
Evan.  1.  III.  c.  5.  p.  135,  where  he  says  expressly,  that  the  idea  form- 
ed by  Jesus  of  giving  all  mankind  a  new  religion,  is  one  which 
had  never  before  occurred  to  a  human  being.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  Eusebius  does  not  very  nicely  distinguish  the  proof  derived 
from  the  plan,  from  the  proof  derived  from  ^e  effects  of  this  plan.] 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

such  elevation  of  thought.  Look  where  we  will,  the  tra- 
ces of  such  greatness  are  searched  for  in  vain. 

§  3.  (1 )  In  order,  however,  to  form  an  acquaintance  witli 
the  author  of  Christianity  in  this  respect,  one  must  col- 
lect together  and  examine  what  history  has  preserved  of 
his  enterprises,  and  the  plan  with  which  he  commenced  ; — 
must  carefully  see  whether  this  plan  was  actually  so  great, 
and  calculated  for  the  whole  human  family.  The  thoughts 
with  which  he  was  occupied,  as  given  in  the  narratives 
which  his  friends  have  left  behind  of  his  life,  are  expres- 
sed without  any  of  the  ornaments  of  eloquence,  without 
any  ostentatious  pretensions,  and  generally  in  an  inciden- 
tal manner ;  but  yet  with  such  strength  and  precision,  as  to 
leave  an  impartial  man  no  room  to  doubt  respecting  his 
intentions.  We  shall  prove  this,  and  from  the  accounts 
extant,  endeavor  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  plan  which  he 
had  in  his  mind.  This  will  occupy  the  first  part  of  this 
work. 

(2)  We  shall  then  go  back  into  antiquity,  and  survey 
all  the  treasures  of  those  great  geniuses  who  possessed 
wisdom,  strength,  and  benevolence  enough  to  become  the 
benefactors  of  their  brethren.  We  shall  endeavor  to  enter 
into  the  plans  which  they  formed,  and  ascertain  their  com- 
pass, and  the  extent  to  which  they  were  carried  into  effect. 
It  will  thence  be  made  to  appear,  that  no  sage  of  antiquity, 
no  friend  of  mankind,  however  noble  and  beneficent,  had 
ever  been  able  to  ascend  to  the  thought  of  acting  for  all. 
We  shall  find  that  they  were  all  confined  within  the  walls 
of  a  native  city,  within  the  borders  of  a  country,  or,  at  the 
farthest,  of  a  kingdom  composed  of  several  countries.  No 
man  before  Jesus,  ever  formed  a  plan  of  benevolence  for 
improving  mankind  as  a  body.  No  poet  ever  soared  so 
high.  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  to  be  found  in  all  antiquity. 
This  ghnce  at  the  whole,  however,  this  universal  benevo- 
lence, this  unlimited  extension  of  thought,  has  been  com- 
mon, since  the  author  of  Christianity  led  the  way,  and 
pointed  out  to  the  human  mind,  the  height,  which,  until 
then,  had  been  enveloped  in  clouds  and  left  untrodden. 
This  will  make  up  the  contents  of  the  second  part. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

(3)  Here  then  we  behold  the  author  of  the  Christian 
religion,  without  pattern  or  guide,  walking  a  path  hitherto 
unknown,  and  treading  a  height  to  which  the  greatest  ge- 
niuses had  not  even  approached.  He  sprung  not  from  a 
nation  of  celebrity,  nor  was  he  educated  in  a  learned 
school,  or  sustained  by  any  favorable  circumstance.  He 
was  obliged  to  contend  with  poverty,  lowness,  and  con- 
tempt, and  was  surrounded  with  obstacles,  difficulties  and 
dangers,  which  seemed  invincible.  In  his  obscure  and 
helpless  condition,  however,  we  find  him  capable  of  form- 
ing a  plan  for  the  good  of  all  nations,  and  cherishing  a 
thought  which  lay  beyond  the  reach  of  human  intellect, 
though  possessed  of  the  greatest  powers,  and  exercised 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances ;  we  find  him  ca- 
pable of  making  a  bold  effort  to  carry  it  into  execution,  and 
indulging  a  hope  that  all  would  be  accomplished,  never  firm- 
er than  in  the  moment  when  to  human  view  all  was  lost ; 
when  he  was  forsaken  by  his  intimate  friends,  opposed 
and  even  put  to  death  by  his  nation.  What  conclusion 
must  we  draw  from  a- phenomenon  so  distinct  in  its  kind  ? 
Shall  we  not  be  justified  in  considering  him  the  most  exalt- 
ed sage,  the  greatest  benefactor  of  mankind,  a  most  cred- 
ible messenger  of  the  Godhead  9  This  will  be  our  subject 
of  investigation  in  the  third  part. 

These  considerations,  indeed,  will  not  afford  incontes- 
tible  proof  that  the  religion  which  Jesus  taught  was  of  di- 
vine origin.  If,  however,  they  are  of  any  assistance  in 
persuading  those  who  deny  Christianity  and  its  author,  to 
show  themselves  as  reasonable  in  respect  to  Jesus  as  they 
are  in  respect  to  other  great  men  of  antiquity,  or  contrib- 
ute in  any  measure  towards  inducing  them  to  hear  other 
and  stronger  proof  in  favor  of  Christianity,  and  examine  it 
with  more  impartiality  than  they  have  hitherto  done, 
they  will  not  have  been  written  in  vain.  And  who 
that  is  already  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christian- 
ity and  the  exaltation  of  its  author,  will  not  rejoice 
to  find  that  Jesus,  in  his  benevolent  views,  surpasses  the 
greatest  geniuses  and  deserves  far  the  most  reverence 
and  love  ? 


A  SHORT  SKETCH    OF    THE    PLAN   DEVISED   BY  JESUS 
FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN. 

§  4.  He  would  be  greatly  mistaken  who  should 
here  expect  an  explanation  of  what  theologians  call  the 
office  of  Christ,  or  the  work  which  he  undertook  for  the 
redemption  of  mankind.  To  this  work,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  belong  performances,  altogether  peculiar,  such 
as  an  expiatory  death,  and  other  important  transactions 
and  eiFects  some  of  which  are  yet  to  come.  These  dis- 
tinguish what  Christ  undertook  and  accomplished  for  man- 
kind, from  every  thing  which  one  man  has  ever  been  able 
to  do  for  others.  In  this  respect,  therefore,  Jesus  can  be 
compared  with  no  other  benefactor  of  the  human  race 
whatever,  for  these  are  services  out  of  the  power  of  any 
one  to  perform  for  others.  In  this  respect,  therefore,  Je- 
sus stands  entirely  alone  and  without  example,  but  on  this 
very  account,  we  shall  now  leave  this  part  of  the  subject 
untouched.  We  here  consider  Jesus  as  any  other  great 
man  of  antiquity,  and  explain  only  those  portions  of  his 
plan  which  bear  a  resemblance  to  the  benevolent  views  of 
other  venerable  men,  in  order  thence  to  draw  the  conclu- 
sion, that  his  plan  is  the  greatest,  most  elevated,  and  most 
benevolent,  that  has  ever  been  thought  of,  or  ever  can  be. 
§  5.  We  shall  not,  however,  enter  into  any  prolix  clis- 
putes  upon  the  subject.  We  shall  not  think  it  worth  while 
to  suggest  any  thing  in  opposition  to  that  wickedness,  under 


the  influence  of  which,  an  anonymous  writer,*  very  desti- 
tute of  impartiality  and  a  love  of  the  truth,  has  written  con- 
cerning the  object  of  Jesus,  and  the  most  benevolent  views, 
that  a  human  mind  ever  entertained,  and,  by  means  of 
poisonous  calumnies,  endeavored  to  bring  them  all  into 
suspicion.  That  wickedness  is  too  striking,  too  exaspera- 
ted, too  hostile,  not  to  disgust  every  man  of  an  uncorrup- 
ted  heart,  and  fill  him  with  indignation.  Neither  can 
we  enter  into  a  detailed  examination  of  all  that  has  lately 
been  said  in  numerous  productions  respecting  the  object  and 
plan  of  Jesus.j-  It  will  be  sufficient  for  us  to  confine 
ourselves  to  those  questions,  too  closely  connected  with 
our  subject,  to  be  left  wholly  untouched.  In  the  first 
place,  therefore,  we  shall  collect  together  and  examine 
what  we  find  in  the  writings  of  his  friends,  respecting  the 
plan  which  he  had  in  view,  and  endeavor  to  enter  into  it 
as  far  as  possible,  considering  our  great  distance  from  the 
age  in  which  he  lived. f 

§  6.  As  to  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses,  upon  whose 
depositions  in  this  case  every  thing  depends,  there  is,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  no  real  cause  of  mistrust.  Passing 
over  the  fact,  that  they  are  universally  known  to  have  been 
honest  men ;  it  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  treated  this  very  subject,  that  they  could  not'  have 
had  the  least  inclination  for  fiction.  From  the  great  and 
all  comprehensive  plan  which  they  make  Jesus  devise, 

*  [The  Wolfenbattelsche  Fragmentist,  Herrm.  Sam.  Reimarus,Voni 
Zweck  Jesu  und  seiner  JUnger,  herausg.  v.  Lessing,  Braunschweig, 

1778.  On  the  other  side,  Silberschlag,  Antibarbarus,  Berlin,  1779; 
Th.  2n.  ;  Semler,  Beantwortung  der  Fragmente  eines  Ungenann- 
ten,  inbes.  v.  d.  Zwecke  Jesu,  Halle,  1779  ;  Bell,  Investigation  of  the 
Divine  Mission  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  J.  C.  (Untersuch.  d.  gottl. 
Sendung  Johannis  d.  T.  u.  J.  C.,  Ubers.  v.  Henke,  Braunschweig, 

1779,  rait  dessen  Anhang,  S.  343 — 354.)  Consult  also  the  excel- 
lent review  of  the  Fragment,  in  the  Allg.  Deutsch.  Bibl.  XL.  35G — 
428;  Schlosser,  Kleine  Schriften,  III.  84—113;  the  ingenious  paro- 
dy by  Christ.  Kruse,  Vom  Zwecke  des  Socrates  u.  s.  Schfller,  fUr 
Freunde  des  Wolf.  Fragm.,  L.  1785.] 

t  [Carl  Friedr.  Bahrdt,  Ausfohrung  des  Plans  und  Z weeks  Jesu 
in  Briefen  an  Wahrheit  suchende  Leser,  12  Bdchn.,  Berlin,  1784 — 
1793.] 

t  Vid.  Appendix,  A. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN. 


they  never  draw  any  inferences  in  his  favor,  nor  do  they 
take  any  notice  of  the  preference  to  which  this  unquestion- 
ably entitled  him  over  all  the  other  great  geniuses  of  our 
race.  They  never  exhibit  any  disposition  to  glorify  him,  as 
it  were,  in  this  respect.  They  never  give  a  connected  delin- 
eation of  this  plan.  Their  accounts  of  the  various  events 
of  his  life,  are  made  up  of  single  fragments,  the  impor- 
tance and  connexion  of  which,  evidently  they  did  not  per- 
ceive. To  form  a  clear  and  correct  conception  of  the 
views  of  this  original  personage,  we  must  combine  them 
together  and  give  the  whole  a  laborious  examination. 
This  circumstance  of  itself  affords  ample  proof,  that  they 
did  not  forge  the  plan  which  they  describe  with  the  intention 
of  palming  it  off  upon  Jesus.  In  such  a  case,  their  accounts 
would  have  exhibited  more  effort  to  represent  him  as  the 
author  of  this  plan.  They  would  have  made  greater  exer- 
tions to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  this  subject.  And 
in  general,  on  the  supposition,  that  Jesus  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  designs  of  which  they  speak,  it  is  difficult  to  com- 
prehend how  his  friends,  taken  as  they  were  from  the  low- 
est ranks  of  life,  and  educated  in  all  the  partialities  of  the 
Jewish  religion,  could  have  palmed  upon  him  a  plan,  em- 
bracing all  mankind^  even  the  detested  heathen  ; — a  plan, 
which  exhibits  more  that  is  great  and  noble,  than  the  most 
daring  poet  ever  attributed  to  his  hero,  and  of  which  no 
one  for  a  long  time,  understood  less  than  these  witnesses 
themselves.  In  respect  to  the  credibility  of  these  witness- 
es, however,  I  think  I  may  fearlessly  appeal  to  what  oth- 
ers have  said.  I  proceed,  therefore,  without  further  cir- 
cumlocution to  the  matter  in  hand. 

§  7.  In  regard  to  the  plan,  of  which  Jesus  is  said  by  his 
friends  to  have  been  the  author,  three  circumstances  de- 
serve attention  ;  namely,  its  compass,  its  character,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  Its 
COMPASS.  Jesus,  in  his  plan  embraced  mankind  at  large  ; 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  then  existing,  or  ever  to  exist. 
Its  character.  It  was  his  intention  to  establish  a  king- 
dom of  God,  a  kingdom  of  truth,  morality  and  happiness,  and 
collect  all  nations  intp  it^     Finally,  the  manner,  in  which 


8  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

it  was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  Every  thing  was  to 
be  done  without  using  force,  or  employing  the  hidden 
springs  of  a  secret  society  ;  merely  by  the  gentle  influence 
of  convincing  instruction,  and  institutions  adapted  to  arouse 
the  moral  sensibilities,  stimulate  the  human  mind  to  reflec- 
tion upon  its  most  important  concerns,  and  warm  it  with  a 
living  zeal  for  the  attainment  of  its  true  destination.  Of 
each  of  these  points  we  shall  treat  in  particular. 


I.  The  compass  of  Christ's  plan. 

§  8.  When  Jesus  first  made  his  appearance  in  public,  it 
was  apparently  as  the  reformer  of  his  own  nation  merely, 
and  without  seeming  to  be  engaged  in  a  plan  of  universal 
extent.  He  declared  that  he  was  sent  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  his  own  people,  Matt.  15:  24 ;  spoke  particu- 
larly of  retaining  the  law  and  the  prophets,  Matt.  5:  17 — 
19  ;  associated  almost  exclusively  with  the  Jews,  and  com- 
manded his  disciples  when  sent  to  make  their  first  essay 
at  imparting  instruction,  to  avoid  all  intercourse  with  for- 
eigners, and  confine  themselves  to  their  fellow  citizens, 
Matt.  10:  5.  It  is  well  known  also,  that  he  never  sepa- 
rated himself  from  the  ecclesiastical  community  of  the 
Jews,  and  that  the  apostles  retained  their  connexion  in 
tliis  respect,  even  after  they  had  established  numerous 
churches  which  bore  his  name. 

From  these  circumstances,  it  has  been  inferred,  that 
Jesus  actually  limited  his  views  to  his  own  nation,  and  in- 
tended merely  to  purify  the  prevailing  religion  and  restore 
genuine  Mosaicism,  it  having  been  adulterated  by  the 
lapse  of  centuries,  and  the  explanations  and  additions  of 
Jewish  sects,  almost  beyond  recognition.*  When,  howev- 
er, the  expressions  of  Jesus,  as  handed  down  by  history, 

*  Comp.  Semler,  Magazin  fUr  die  Religion,  Th.  1.  S.  322  ;  Men- 
delsohn,  Jerusalem,  oder  Ober  religiose  Macht  und  Judenthum,  S. 
130  f. ;  Riem,  Christus  und  die  Vernunft,  S.  6ff. ;  and  Jakob,  Annal. 
der  Philosophic,  u,  des  philosophischen  Geistes,  Jahrg.  1795,  St. 
XXXIX.  S.  306,  and  St.  LXXXIX.  S.  706 ;  [also  Fragm.  v.  Zweck 
Jesu,  S.  19.  66  fF. ;  Dr.  Th.  in  Scherer's  Schriftforscher,  I.  3.  S.  428 
—440.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  y 

are  considered  in  their  due  connexion,  and  compared  to- 
gether, this  opinion  appears  to  be  altogether  destitute  of 
probability. 

§  9.  In  the  first  place,  let  us  attend  to  the  condition 
in  which  Jesus  found  himself,  at  the  commencement  of  his 
labors.  Whatever  he  may  have  had  in  view,  it  is  undenia- 
ble, that  he  was  obliged  to  begin  his  work  somewhere,  and 
measure  his  steps  according  to  existing  circumstances. 
From  the  fact,  however,  that  he  made  his  appearance 
among  the  Jews,  conformed  to  their  laws  and  customs, 
and  exerted  himself  mainly  at  first  in  behalf  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  it  does  not  follow  that  every  thing  which  he  resol- 
ved upon  was  for  them  exclusively.  Where  could  he  have 
begun  his  labors  to  better  advantage  than  where,  as  a 
relative,  a  citizen  and  friend,  he  already  had  numerous 
connexions,  and  could  easily  form  more  ;  where,  instead 
of  being  under  the  necessity  of  opening  a  door  of  access, 
he  found  one  already  opened,  and  a  people  possessed  of 
much  knowledge  exactly  to  his  purpose,  which  would  have 
been  sought  for  in  any  other  nation  in  vain  ?  Whatever 
he  resolved  upon,  was  he  not  obliged  to  place  his  chief 
dependence  upon  the  attention,  esteem,  and  affection  of 
those  by  whom  he  was  immediately  surrounded,  and  with 
whom  he  began  his  operations  ?  But  could  he  have  flat- 
tered himself  with  the  hope  of  being  able  to  produce  any 
useful  impressions  upon  his  fellow  citizens  without  at  least 
first  remaining  with  the  community  to  which,  by  birth,  edu- 
cation, and  the  civil  constitution  he  belonged,  until  he  had 
produced  another  state  of  feeling  ?  Would  he  not  have 
excited  every  one  against  him,  had  he  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  his  career,  evinced  a  prepossession  in  fa- 
vor of  the  heathen,  to  whom  the  Jewish  populace  were  so 
hostile  ?  had  he  even  imprudently  discovered  an  incli- 
nation to  abolish  the  existing  religious  constitution,  which 
every  one  deemed  sacred,  and  was  zealous  to  defend  ? 
Was  it  not  necessary  for  him,  therefore,  to  declare  that  he 
adhered  to  the  law  and  the  prophets,  in  order  to  procure 
a  favorable  hearing  and  prevent  every  one  from  withdraw- 
ing from  him  at  the  very  out-set  ?     Besides,  his  immedi- 


10  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

ate  and  personal  efforts  were  confined  to  very  narrow  lim- 
its. He  was  allowed  no  time  for  developing  the  plan  with 
which  he  commenced  by  appropriate  actions,  and  was  pre- 
vented from  making  the  attempt  as  soon  as  opportunity 
presented  for  the  purpose.  It  was  very  natural,  therefore, 
that,  during  his  short  public  life,  in  which  he  had  enough 
to  do  in  order  to  secure  faithful  men  to  whom  he  might 
intrust  the  continuation  of  his  work,  he  should  have  made 
no  arrangements  for  leaving  the  Jewish  community.  If  it 
were  his  intention  to  separate  from  it,  death  overtook  him 
before  suitable  preparations  had  been  made  for  so  im- 
portant a  step,  and  the  thing  could  be  effected  with  secu- 
rity. For  the  same  reasons  also,  he  was  under  the  neces- 
sity of  limiting  the  first  commissions  which  he  gave  his 
disciples,  to  their  own  countrymen.  Possibly  he  may  have 
been  further  influenced  in  so  doing  by  the  reflection,  that 
there  was  then  very  much  to  be  done  at  home,  and  that 
his  messengers  were  as  yet  too  incapable  of  performing 
any  thing  among  strangers,  to  be  entrusted  with  more 
extensive  powers.  All  things  well  considered,  it  was  also 
necessary  for  Jesus  to  make  his  appearance  in  the  character 
of  a  man,  having  the  purification  and  improvement  of  his 
own  paternal  religion  at  heart.  In  no  other  character  could 
he  have  introduced  himself  to  his  countrymen,  so  as  to 
command  their  attention  and  esteem.  No  safe  conclusion 
therefore,  can  be  drawn  from  his  conduct  in  these  res- 
pects, as  to  the  compass  of  his  plan.  He  was  obliged  to 
act  as  he  acted,  whether  he  confined  his  views  to  his  na- 
tion, or  gave  them  more  ample  extent.  He,  therefore, 
who  infers,  that  Jesus  had  merely  the  improvement  of  his 
own  paternal  religion  in  view,  from  the  course  which  he 
pursued,  appeals  to  circumstances  altogether  of  an  equivo- 
cal nature^  and  which  might  as  well  be  combined  with 
any  other  supposition,  and  so  of  course  prove  nothing, 

§  10.  On  the  other  hand,  so  many  of  the  expressions 
of  Jesus  plainly  indicate  his  resolution  to  erect  an  estab- 
lishment perfectly  new,  and  entirely  different  from  the  re- 
ligious constitution  of  the  Jews,  as  to  render  it  a  matter  of 
astonishment  that  it  could  have  been  so  often  overlooked. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  1 1 

Look  at  the  very  declaration  itself  to  which  such  bold  ap- 
peals have  been  made  in  proof  of  the  contrary.      '  /  am 
not  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets j'  says  he,  *  but 
to  fulfil ;  for  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  not  pass  from  the 
law  till  all  be  fulfilled.      He  therefore  who  breaks  one  of 
these  least  commandments  and  teaches  men  so,  shall  be  the 
least  in   the  kingdom   of  Heaven^''  Matt.    5:    17 — 19. 
What  is  this  declaration,  when  considered  in  connexion 
with  what  follows,  but  a  hint,  that  the  heavenly  kingdom 
which  he  had  in  view,   was  to  be  a  moral  establishment, 
perfectly  new,  and  far  exalted  above  the  old  constitution^ 
As  if  Christ  had  spoken  as  follows  :    "  Hitherto  the 
use  of  the  sacred   Scriptures  for  purposes  of  moral  im- 
provement, has  been  constantly  neglected,  and  is  partic- 
ularly so  at  present.     They  are  expressly  calculated  how- 
ever, to  exert  an  influence  in  this  respect,  and  accordingly 
the  law  and  the  prophets  are  henceforth  to  receive  such  a 
fulfilment  as  they  never  have  received  in  times  past.      He 
therefore  who  would  fulfil  them,  exhaust  their  meaning, 
advance  their  utility,  and  use  them  in  a  proper  manner, 
must  consider  them  in  this  point  of  view,  and  exchange 
the  constitution  grounded  upon  them  for  an  institution  of 
pure  morality."*     Now  does  not  Christ's  whole  discourse, 
subsequent  to  this  declaration,  undoubtedly  prove,  that  this 
was  actually  the  fulfilment  which  he  had  in  view?      What 
does  he  quote  from  the  law  ?      How  would  he  have  it 
observed?     How  does   he  explain  it?      How  does  he 
inculcate  it  ?     He  always   confines   himself  in  what  he 
says,  to  those  general  commandments  which  are  of  uni- 
versal and  eternal  obligation  in  morality.    He  clears  them 
of   the   spurious    additions    and   false    interpretations  of 
the  Pharisees.      He    represents  then?  in  their  true  ex- 
tent and  all  their  sanctity.      He  calls  upon  his  hearers 
to  yield  them  obedience  with  an  earnestness  which  con- 
demns the  hypocrisy  of  the  Pharisees  without  forbear- 
ance.     With  the   sacrificial   rites,  ceremonies,  and    the 
precepts,  which  relate  to  the  external  constitution  of  the 
Jews,  he  either  does  not  meddle  at  all,  or  only  in  an  inci- 

*  Paul  calls  this  establishing  the  law,  Rom.  3  :  31. 


12 

dental  way,  and  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  they  must 
derive  all  their  value  from  pure  morality,  Slatt.  6:  23,  24. 
6:  16 — 18.  Can  any  one  look  at  the  connexion  in  which 
this  discourse  stands,  and  have  a  right  apprehension  of  its 
spirit,  without  perceiving  that  the  heavenly  kingdom,  the 
establishment  of  which  is  here  announced,  must  consist  of 
something  more  than  the  Jewish  worship  ?  Jesus  inform- 
ed, his  hearers,  as  distinctly  as  his  circumstances,  and  their 
limited  capacities  would  consistently  permit,  that  the  old 
order  of  things  was  to  be  dissolved  into  a  kingdom  of  true 
morality,  and  the  pure  worship  of  God.  When  this  was 
effected,  could  not  one  say  for  the  first  time,  that  the  law 
and  the  prophets  had  been  fulfilled  ?* 

As  soon,  however,  as  Jesus  had  acquired  more  influ- 
ence and  authority,  he  declared  in  still  plainer  language, 
that  the  old  order  of  things  was  soon  to  be  destroyed,  and 
a  new,  more  general,  and  far  better  order  of  things  to  be 
substituted  in  its  stead.  I  shall  adduce  only  a  few  of  the 
most  noted  passages  in  proof  of  this.  In  Matt.  8:5 — 12, 
we  are  informed,  that  a  centurion,  who  was  a  Gentile,  ap- 
plied to  Jesus  for  help  in  behalf  of  his  servant,  at  the  same 
lime  expressing  views  and  feelings  calculated  to  put  the 
Jews  to  the  blush,  and  that  Jesus,  struck  with  his  magna- 
nimity, broke  out  in  the  assurance,  that  the  heathen  should 
come  from  all  quarters  of  the  earth  and  sit  down  in  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  while  the  Jews,  the  children  of  the 
kingdom,  should  be  cast  out  of  it.  Whatever  we  under- 
stand in  this  place  by  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  this  de- 
claration unquestionably  implies,  that  a  change  was  at  this 
time  to  be  expected,  w^hich  should  divest  the  Jews  of  the 
privileges  to  which  they  thought  themselves  exclusively 
entitled,  and  confer  them  upon  the  heathen.  On  another 
occasion,  Jesus  repeated  this  declaration  in  a  still  more  de- 
finite manner.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  public  career, 
and  shortly  before  his  execution,  finding  no  farther  reasons, 
from  any  thing  that  he  had  to  do  or  suffer,  for  keeping  it 

*   Compare  Grotius   upon  the  passagfe,  Annotatt.  in  Nov.  Test., 
where  a  very  correct  representation  is  given  of  its  true  meaning. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  13 

a  secret,  he  openly  affirmed  in  the  temple  ^  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  was  to  be  taken  from  the  Jews  and  given  to 
the  gentiles,'  Matt.  21:  43.  Mark  12:  9.  Luke  20:  16, 
and  went  so  far  as  to  clothe  his  predictions  with  various  in- 
structive narratives.  Matt.  22:  1 — 14.  Now  how  could  the 
Jews  have  been  rejected  and  the  heathen  substituted  in  their 
stead,  without  the  introduction  of  an  order  of  things,  new, 
and  entirely  different  from  the  former  ? — When  Jesus  first 
sent  out  his  disciples  with  a  commission  to  excite  the  at- 
tention of  their  fellow  citizens  to  his  enterprises,  he  did 
not  conceal  from  them  in  the  least  degree  the  fact,  that 
their  calling  was  a  very  dangerous  one,  Matt.  10:  16,  and 
the  business  intrusted  to  them  greatly  detested.  Matt.  10: 
22.  He  told  them  of  the  abuses  of  every  kind  to  which 
they  should  be  subjected,  vs.  17,  18,  and  observed  that  the 
accomplishment  of  his  views  would  unavoidably  result  in 
a  universal  exasperation  and  dissension,  which  should 
even  disturb  the  peace  of  families,  and  sever  the  tenderest 
connexions,  vs.  34 — 36.  Had  Jesus  had  no  other  object 
before  him  than  the  improvement  of  the  prevailing  relig- 
ion, could  he  have  anticipated  such  dangerous  commo- 
tions,^ and  spoken  of  them  before  hand?  The  labors  of 
John  the  Baptist  did  not  disturb  the  public  tranquillity,  for 
he  undertook  nothing  in  opposition  to  the  established  con- 
stitution. Now  if  Jesus,  as  the  result  of  what  he  intended 
to  accomplish,  looked  forward  to  a  dissolution  of  all  for- 
mer relations,  and  a  state  of  war  between  all  parts  of  so- 
ciety, must  he  not  have  intended  to  go  much  farther  than 
John  did  ?  Must  he  not  have  purposed  the  actual  over- 
throw of  the  regulations  then  in  existence  ? — There  is 
something  remarkable  in  the  manner,  in  which,  on  every 
occasion,  he  explained  those  commandments  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  which  related  to  the  external  service  of  God^  and 
made  up  a  great  part  of  the  Jewish  constitution.  Nothing 
was  more  sacred  in  the  estimation  of  a  Jew  than  sacrifice, 
Jesus  never  intimated  that  a  man  should  offer  sacrifice, 
but  he  often  censured  the  abuses,  which,  to  the  prejudice 
of  morality,  had  crept  into  the  service.  Matt.  15:  5,  6. 
Mark  7:  11,  12,  and  with  feelings  of  marked  approbation, 
2 


14  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

told  a  learned  man  who  had  asserted  love  to  God  and 
man  to  be  of  more  value  than  "  all  whole  burnt  offerings," 
that  he  was  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God,   Mark  12: 
34.     Nothing  appeared  more  inviolable  to  the  Jews  than 
the  commandment  respecting  the  Sabbath.      Jesus  pur- 
posely availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  which  present- 
ed itself  for  correcting  their  views  respecting  the  Sabbath, 
inculcating  a  more  liberal  mode  of  thinking  in  this  respect, 
and  convincing  them,  that  that  whole  precept  must  be  made 
subordinate   to   the  general  laws  of  morality.   Matt.  12: 
1—15.  Mark2:23— 28.  3:1—6.  Luke6:l— 11.  John 
6:  9 — 19.  7:  20 — ^23.     He  went  so  far  as  to  intimate  to 
them  that  he  did  not  consider  that  precept  as  binding  up- 
on his  person,  John  5:  17,  and  that  he  had  power  to  abol- 
ish it  altogether,*  Matt.  12:  8.  Luke  6:  5.t     The  con- 
stitution then  existing  rested  very  essentially  upon  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  fathers,  and  the  additions  which  had  been 
made  to   the  precepts  of  Moses.      So   long  had  these 
oral  illustrations  been    recognised  as  valid,  that   it   was 
deemed  necessary  to  let  every  thing  remain  as  it  had  hith- 
erto done.    Jesus  attacked  these  traditions  on  all  occasions, 
Matt.  5:  21  seqq.,  and  did  it  with  an  earnestness  which  e- 
vinced  itself  by  the  most  vehement  reproaches.     Matt.  15: 
1—9.  Mark  7: 1—1 3.  Matt.  23:  1—39.  He  compared  all 

*  It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  Jesus  undertook  to  effect  a  change 
respecting  the  subject  of  divorcements,  unquestionably  at  variance 
with  the  Mosaic  law,  and  advantageous  to  morality,  and  urged  tlie 
abolition  of  the  Mosaic  precept,  Matt.  19:  1—9.  Mark  10:  1—6. 

t  Grotius,  as  is  well  known,  does  not  explain  this  passage  of 
Christ,  but  o^  every  man  in  general,  and  appeals  to  Mark  2:  27, 28,  in 
support  of  this  explanation;  and  Bolte  in  his  remarks,  Zum  Bericht 
des  Matthaus  von  Jesu  deni  Messia,  S.  190  ff.,  has  lately  defended 
this  interpretation  in  detail.  It  is  certainly  not  opposed  to  the  usus 
loquendi.  The  connexion  however  seems  to  require  these  words  to 
be  applied  to  Christ,  and  understood  of  his  power  over  the  Sabbath. 
He  had  just  remarked,  (v.  6,)  as  is  conceded  by  Grotius  himself,  that 
he  was  greater  than  the  temple.  After  this  assertion,  it  was  to  be 
expected  that  he  would  exalt  himself  above  the  Sabbath.  Now,  as 
by  way  of  distinction,  he  frequently  calls  himself  f/te  son  of  man,  so 
the  eighth  verse  is  unquestionably  to  be  explained  of  him  and  his 
power  to  make  changes  in  the  commandment  respecting  the  Sab- 
bath.   There  is  something  of  a  similar  import  in  Matt.  17:  25,  20. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  15 

these  merely  human  precepts  to  pernicious  plants,  which 
must  be  entirely  rooted  up,  Matt.  15:  13  ;  bitterly  censured 
the  Pharisees  for  taking  so  much  pains  to  make  proselytes 
to  a  disfigured  religion,  Matt.  ^23:  15;  and  finally,  en- 
gaged to  deliver  the  poor  oppressed  people  from  the 
whole  burden  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  give  them  the  easy 
yoke  of  a  pure,  spiritual  religion  in  its  stead.  Matt.  11: 
28,  29.  Could  it  have  been  the  design  of  a  man  to  spare 
and  defend  a  constitution,  concerning  the  most  essential 
and  most  holy  parts  of  which  he  made  such  declarations  ? 
On  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  sufficiently  apparent  from  these 
assertions,  that  he  had  determined  to  weaken  its  authority 
and  gradually  prepare  the  way  for  its  overthrow? 

Jesus  made  known  his  resolution  in  still  more  definite 
terms,  whenever  the  circumstances  under  which  he  spoke, 
were  such,  that  an  undissembled  declaration  of  it  could 
produce  no  injury  and  occasion  no  misunderstanding.  In 
the  very  first  year  of  his  public  ministry,  he  informed^a 
Samaritan  woman,  who  could  not  possibly  take  offence  at 
what  she  heard,  that  the  religious  constitution  of  the  Jews 
was  drawing  to  a  close ;  that  the  time  was  then  at  hand  in 
which  the  true  worship  of  the  father  should  no  longer  be 
confined  to  a  particular  place ; — in  which  all  Jewish  and 
Samaritan,  all  merely  external  worship,  should  entirely 
cease,  and  God  be  adored  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  John  4: 
20 — 24.  Jesus  could  not  have  expressed  in  clearer  and 
stronger  terms  than  it  is  here  done,  his  determination  to 
substitute  a  new,  better,  and  more  extensive  religion,  in^ 
stead  of  the  Jewish  constitution,  which  presented  such  ob- 
stacles to  the  extension  of  a  spiritual  religion,  and  was 
calculated  to  confine  it  to  a  single  nation, — to  one  corner 
of  the  earth.  In  the  confidential  circle  of  his  apostles,  he 
spoke  in  a  similar  manner.  When  Peter,  in  a  conversation, 
at  which  none  but  his  fellow  apostles  were  present,  declar- 
ed they  were  convinced  he  was  the  Messiah,  Jesus  not  on- 
ly approved  of  this  decision,  but  added  that  by  means  of 
Peter,  he  intended  to  found  a  church  which  should  en- 
dure forever,  and  into  which  Peter  should  admit  whom 
he  would,  Matt.  16:  18,  19.  In  these  words,  the  resolu- 
tion of  Jesus  to  establish  a  religious  society,  peculiar,  and 


16  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

entirely  different  from  that  of  the  Jews,  is  too  clearly  ex- 
pressed to  be  mistaken.  His  church  is  to  he  founded. 
Had  he  had  the  improvement  of  the  Jewish  religion 
solely  in  view,  he  certainly  would  not  have  spoken  of 
founding  a  church.  In  the  new  church  the  highest  pow- 
er is  to  be  conceded  to  Peter,  who  is  to  open  and  shut 
it  whenever  he  pleases.  In  the  Jewish  church  neither 
Christ  nor  his  apostles  sought  after  authority  and  power. 
It  must  have  been  his  intention  therefore  to  separate  his 
church  from  that,  and  give  it  regulations  entirely  distinct. 
Indeed  he  says  so,  in  Matt.  18:  17,  18,  where,  under  the 
new  constitution,  soon  to  go  into  operation,  similar  power 
is  also  conferred  upon  the  other  aposdes.  If  with  the 
above  we  compare  Matt.  16:  28.  Mark  9:  1,  and  Luke 
9:  27,  it  will  appear  that  the  successful  enlargement  of 
this  church,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  he  was  engaged  in  founding,  was  to  com- 
mence with  the  destruction  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  when, 
as  is  well  known,  the  Jewish  constitution  ceased,  and  the 
Christian  stood  forth  entirely  alone.  This  last  point, 
however,  deserves  more  particular  attention.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  Jesus  spoke  of  a  near  overthrow  of  the 
Jewish  state,  and  an  entire  destruction  of  the  temple.  He 
spoke  of  these  changes  more  than  once,  Luke  13:  34,  35. 
19:  41—44.  Matt.  22:  7.  23:  33—39,  and  described 
them  to  his  aposdes,  with  all  their  attending  circumstances, 
and  the  consequently  successful  progress  of  his  undertak- 
ing, in  so  clear  and  minute  a  manner.  Matt.  xxiv.  Mark 
XIII.  Luke  XXI.,  as  to  remove  all  doubt  that  he  expected 
such  a  revolution,  and  considered  it  as  altogether  unavoida- 
ble. When  we  reflect  therefore,  that  he  expressly  makes  a 
distinction  between  his  own  affairs  and  those  of  the  relig- 
ious constitution  of  the  Jews,  and  represents  the  decay  of 
the  latter  and  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  as  events  which 
should  conduce  to  the  advantage  of  his  own  undertaking, 
and  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Matt.  24:  30,  31.  Luke  12: 
27,  28,  can  we  deem  it  in  the  least  degree  probable  that 
he  aimed  solely  at  the  improvement  of  his  own  nation, 
without  ever  forming  the  design  of  separating  himself  from 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  17 

that  society,  which  he  knew  would  remain  faithful  to  the  old 
order  of  things?  And,  finally,  what  shall  we  say,  when  he 
speaks  in  direct  terms  of  another  community  and  an  entire- 
ly new  system  of  religion,  which  should  not  only  be  oppos- 
ed to  the  old  one,  but  render  it  superfluous  ? — when  he 
assures  us  of  his  determination  solemnly  to  consecrate 
and  confirm  this  new  constitution  by  his  blood, — by  his 
death  ?  Matt.  26:  28.  Mark  14:  24.  Luke  22:  20.  Must 
we  not  admit  this  to  be  a  declaration,  that  the  constitution 
then  existing,  was  antiquated  and  useless,  and  an  intima- 
tion as  clear  as  possible,  that  he  was  thinking  upon  some- 
thing new  and  better  ? 

§  11.  If  we  can  show,  however,  that  the  plan  in  which 
Jesus  was  engaged,  was  of  universal  extent,  embracing  all 
mankind,  then  no  room  will  be  left  for  the  supposition  that 
he  intended  merely  to  reform  his  own  nation.  Now  that 
such  vvas  the  extent  of  his  views  and  the  compass  of  his 
plan,  is  too  evident  to  be  misapprehended.  It  shines 
forth  from  his  conduct,  is  expressed  in  his  words,  and  con- 
firmed by  the  truths,  which  he  generally  inculcated. 

(a)  The  conduct  of  Jesus,  as  represented  by  the  evan- 
gelists, exhibits  no  very  indistinct  traces  of  views,  that 
stretched  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Judea.  He  every 
where  acts  like  a  man,  who  has  something  of  greater  im- 
portance before  him,  than  merely  the  improvement  of  his  fel- 
low citizens.  He  repeatedly  casts  a  glance  upon  foreigners, 
and  elevates  it  even  to  mankind  at  large.  That  he  thought 
of  the  condition  of  the  heathen,  and  made  their  moral  ne- 
cessities an  object  of  contemplation,  he  has  here  and  there 
intimated  with  sufficient  plainness.  Sometimes  he  men- 
tions them  in  his  discourses,  and  when  he  does  so,  it  is 
always  with  a  reference  to  their  wants,  Matt.  5:  47.  6:  7, 
32.  20  :  25.  Mark  10  :  42.*  Notwithstanding  the  great 
caution  with  which  he  avoided  intimate  connexions  with 
the  heathen,  in  order  not  to  offend  his  intolerant  country- 
men, he  by  no  means  excluded  them  from  participating  in 

*  With  respect  to  the  last  passage,  vid.  Michaelis'  Syntagma 
commentationum,  Tom.  11.  p.  30  aeqq, 

2* 


16  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

his  instructions,  whenever  they  found  opportunity  for 
the  purpose.  This  is  evident  from  the  reproaches,  which 
were  so  often  heaped  upon  him  for  associating  with  pubU- 
cans  and  sinners,  Mark  2  :  15,  16.  Luke  5  :  30.  15  :  1, 
2.  19  :  7;  for  according  to  the  usus  loquendi  of  those 
times,  the  term  sinners  may  not  only  have  included 
wicked  and  abandoned  men  in  general,*  but  the  heathen 
in  particular,  and  consequently  the  Romans  ;f  and  that 
the  collectors  of  the  Jewish  custom,  with  whom  Jesus  as- 
sociated, were  sometimes  heathen,  is  very  probable  from 
the  fact,  that  they  were  in  the  pay  of  the  Romans,  with 
whom  they  held  constant  intercourse. {  Even  the  multi- 
tudes, which  collected  around  him  in  desert  places,  ap- 
pear occasionally  to  have  been  heathen,  who,  hearing  of 
his  general  celebrity,  undoubtedly  felt  as  anxious  to  see 
him  as  his  own  fellow  citizens.  This  can  be  inferred 
with  a  tolerable  degree  of  certainty  from  Mark  3 :  8,  and 
Luke  6  :  17,||  and  that  he  ever  refused  such  persons,  or 
withdrew  himself  from  them,  we  are  no  where  informed. 
Besides,  Galilee,  the  principal  scene  of  Christ's  actions, 
was  so  full  of  heathen,  that  he  could  not  have  tarried  there 
a  long  time,  had  he  wished  to  abstract  himself  entirely 
from  them.§  From  John  4  :  40,  we  learn,  that  soon  af- 
ter the  commencement  of  his  public  labors,  he  came  in 
contact  with  the  Samaritans,  and,  finding  them  very  sus- 
ceptible of  his  instructions,  spent  two  whole  days  with 
them  at  Sychar.     It  is  impossible  not  to  perceive  the  im- 

*  Comp.  Bolte's  note  on  Matt.  10:  10.  S.  146  seqq. 

t  Hence  in  Matt.  18:  17,  the  explanatory  word  heathen,  is  added 
to  the  expression j9M6/icfln5,  instead  of  the  common  one  sinners.  The 
sinners  to  whom  Jesus  was  to  be  delivered,  were,  as  is  well  known, 
the  Romans.  Matt.  26:  45.  Luke  24:  7,  comp.  chap.  18:  32,  and 
Gal.  2:  16. 

X  Krebs,  De  usu  et  praestantia  Romanae  Historiae  in  Nov.  Test, 
interpretatione,  III.  p.  22  seqq. 

II  Jesus  is  said  to  have  had  hearers  from  the  region  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon.  In  all  probability  these  were  heathen.  Comp.  Mark  7:  24 — 
26.  Matt.  15:  21,  22,  and  Reland's  Palaestina,  Tom.  II.  p.  1046  seqq. 

§  Bachiene,  Beschreibung  von  Palaestina,  Th.  II.  B.  IV.  §  620 — 
624. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  19 

partiality  with  which  he  did  justice,  both  to  the  Samaritans 
and  heathen,  whenever  he  found  them  distinguished  for 
any  good  qualities.  He  neglected  no  opportunity  for  bring- 
ing such  excellencies  into  notice,  and  putting  his  own  coun- 
trymen to  the  blush  in  this  respect.  Matt.  8  :  10.  15  :  28. 
Luke  17  :  17,  18.  10:  33  seqq.  Whenever  foreigners 
applied  to  him,  he  kindly  assisted  them,  and  performed 
the  same  wonderful  works  for  them  that  he  did  for  af- 
flicted Jews,  Matt.  8:  5—13.  15:  21—28,  Luke  17: 
11 — 19.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  Jesus  was  not 
only  acquainted  with  the  bitter  hatred  of  his  passionate 
countrymen  towards  every  thing  not  of  Jewish  origin, 
but  that  he  considered  strangers  also  as  objects  of  benev- 
olence, and  sought  to  do  them  good  whenever  it  was  pos- 
sible to  do  so  without  creating  offence.  His  conduct,  how- 
ever, would  never  have  been  combined  with  such  prudent 
foresight,  or  directed  with  such  propriety  as  always  shone 
forth  from  his  actions,  had  his  views  been  limited  to  his 
own  nation,  to  the  Samaritans,  or  to  the  heathen ;  had 
not  his  plan  taken  in  all  mankind  without  distinction. 

(b)  Whatever  doubt,  however,  we  may  have  had  res- 
pecting the  intention  of  Jesus  to  devote  himself  to  the  good 
of  the  whole  human  family,  it  vanishes  when  we  hear  him 
speak.  He  has  given  a  particular  description  of  the  unlim- 
ited extent  of  his  views,  and,  in  so  doing,  employed  every 
expression  capable  of  designating  the  greatest  universality. 
The  usus  loquendi  of  the  Jews,  as  has  already  been  ob- 
served, distinguished  but  two  classes  of  men,  and  hence 
by  Jews  and  gentiles  in  that  age,  was  meant  all  mankind. 
Now  Jesus  unquestionably  intended  to  render  himself  use- 
ful to  the  Jews.  With  them  indeed  he  commenced  his 
labors.  More  than  once,  however,  he  asserted  that  he 
should  not  confine  himself  to  them  ; — that  he  considered 
the  heathen  also  as  the  objects  of  his  solicitude  ; — that  he 
was  to  effect  a  great  change  in  affairs,  which  should  make 
the  rest  of  mankind  partakers  of  all  that  kindness  and  those 
privileges  of  which  the  Jews  were  so  jealous,  and,  under 
the  influence  of  an  envious  selfishness,  wished  to  be  ex- 
clusively possessed  ; — a  change,  w^hich  should  oblige  the 


20 

incorrigible  portion  of  the  Jews  to  yield  the  precedency  to 
the  heathen.  What  else  can  be  the  meaning  of  the  words, 
"  Many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  shall  sit 
down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  ;  but  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be 
cast  into  outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping,  and 
gnashing  of  teeth?"  Matt.  8:  11,  12.  What  else  can  be  the 
import  of  what  he  said  on  another  occasion  very  similar, 
*  that  it  would  prove  of  no  avail  to  the  Jews,  if  they  did 
not  amend,  to  have  had  him,  a  fellow  citizen,  for  their 
teacher  and  intimate  associate  ; — that  on  the  other  hand, 
there  should  come  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west,  and 
from  the  north,  and  from  the  south,those  that  should  sit  down 
in  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  that  the  last  should  be  first, 
and  the  first  last  ?"  Luke  13:  24 — 30.  What  but  a  plan  em- 
bracing the  heathen,  is  intended  in  the  touching  descrip- 
tion, in  which  he  represents  himself  as  *the  good  shepherd 
who  lays  down  his  life  for  the  welfare  of  his  flock,  but  who 
has  other  sheep  which  are  not  of  this  fold,  and  which  must 
also  be  brought  in,  in  order  that  there  may  be  but  one 
shepherd  and  one  fold?'  John  10:  16.*  How  could  he 
have  expressed  his  determination  to  extend  his  instructions 
and  the  benefits  thence  resulting,  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
his  native  country,  in  plainer  language,  than  when,  on  a 
previous  occasion,  he  informed  his  disciples,  that  after  his 
departure  from  them,  they  should  encounter  the  hatred  of 
their  fellow  citizens,  and  be  driven  into  other  regions ; — 
treatment  which  was  to  result  from  their  making  known 
the  truth  to  the  heathen  ?    Matt.  10:  18.    24:   14.  Mark 

*  [The  author  of  Jesus  Universal-Religion,  ein  SeitenstUck  zu 
Reinhard,  &c.,  S.  26,  L.  1811,  very  properly  suggests,  that  by  the  oth- 
er sheep  in  this  place,  Jesus  did  not  mean  those  tribes  in  Syria  and 
Palestine,  which  had  revolted  at  the  time  of  Rehoboam,  nor  those 
Jews,  who,  after  Alexander,  by  means  of  an  extensive  commerce, 
were  scattered  all  over  Europe,'  (as  Paulus  assumes  in  his  comments 
upon  the  passage,)  but  all  other  nations.  To  tak'e  ysvjjatTui,  howev- 
er, as  an  optative,  "  may  there  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,"  is 
evidently  at  variance  with  the  manner  in  which  the  clauses  of 
the  16th  verse  are  connected  together  by  xat,  as  well  as  Christ's 
mode  of  speaking  in  verse  28,  which  does  not  express  a  wish  mere- 
ly, but  is  altogether  positive.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  21 

13:  10.  From  this  collection  of  passages,*  it  is  evident, 
that  Christ's  thoughts  were  always  directed  to  the  Jews  and 
heathen  at  the  same  time,  and  that  the  work  in  which  he 
was  engaged,  was  calculated  as  much  for  the  one  as  the 
other.  Now  as  in  the  idiom  of  that  country,  the  phrase, 
Jews  and  heathen,  designated  all  mankind,  it  necessarily 
follows  that  Jesus,  in  making  use  of  it,  gave  his  plan  the 
greatest  universality,  and  distinguished  it  as  a  plan  for  the 
whole  human  family. 

The  phrase,  the  world,  has  a  meaning  of  similar  extent. 
Sometimes  it  designates  the  whole  earth  as  the  dwelling 
place  of  the  human  race,  at  others,  this  race  itself. — 
Jesus  makes  use  of  this  phrase  also,  for  the  purpose 
of  defining  the  object  and  compass  of  his  benevolent 
plan.  In  the  parable  of  the  tares,  Mattlf.  13:  24 — 30,  he 
has  compared  his  followers  to  the  good  seed  which  was 
obliged  to  grow  up  with  noxious  weeds.  The  field  how- 
ever, where  the  seed  was  to  be  found,  according  to  his 
own  explanation,  vs.  37,  38,  was  not  Palestine,  nor  the 
region  inhabited  by  the  Jews,  but  the  whole  earth,  the 
world,  without  exception  or  limitation.  He  informed  Nic- 
odemus,  John  3:  16,  17,  a  man  proud  of  the  imaginary 
preference  due  to  his  nation,  in  express  terms,  that  he  had 
been  sent  by  the  love  of  God  for  the  good  of  the  world, 
the  whole  human  family  ;  — that  he  came  not  to  condemn 
the  world  but  to  save  it ; — an  expression,  which,  as  is  ev- 
ident from  chap.  12:  46,  47,  he  used  often  to  repeat  and 
inculcate.  In  the  6th  chap,  of  John,  with  reference  to 
his  having  fed  a  great  multitude  on  a  former  day,  he  calls 
himself  the  living  bread,  sent  by  God  to  give  nourishment, 
and  strength,  not  to  the  Jews  only,  but  to  the  world,  to 
all  mankind  without  exception,  vs.  33  and  51.  Pre- 
cisely in  the  same  way  he  describes  himself  as  the  light  of 

*  The  sentence,  Matt.  9:  13.  Mark  2:  17.  Luke  5:  32,  also  indi- 
cates with  no  inconsiderable  degree  of  plainness,  a  resolution  to  im- 
prove the  heathen,  provided  the  expression  Sixaioi  is  understood  of 
the  worshippers  of  the  true  God,  and  the  uuaoraO.oiy  of  those  who 
are  not,— of  the  heathen.  Vid.  Nachtigall's  Buch  der  Weisheit,  S, 
195  ff. 


22 

the  world,  John  3:  19.  8:  12.  9:  5,  as  the  teacher  and 
benefactor  of  mankind,  and  compares  himself  to  the  sun 
which  produces  its  effect  upon  every  part  of  the  globe^ 
chap.  11:  9.  Tn  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  a  woman 
poured  a  costly  perfume  upon  his  head,  while  he  sat  at 
meat  in  Bethany.  His  disciples  were  indignant  at  her 
for  the  act,  but  he  told  them  that,  wheresoever  the 
Gospel  should  be  introduced  throughout  the  whole  world, 
what  she  had  done  should  be  spoken  of  for  a  memorial  of 
her.  Matt.  26:  13.  Mark  14:  9.  He  went  with  wil- 
lingness to  the  scene  of  his  sufferings,  and  to  meet  death, 
in  order  to  exhibit  to  the  whole  world  his  great  love 
towards  God  as  well  as  the  punctuality  of  his  obedi- 
ence, John  14:  31 ;  and  after  his  departure,  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  by  means*  of  his  disciples,  was  to  teach  this 
very  same  world,  and  rescue  it  from  the  power  of  ig- 
norance and  vice,  John  16:  8 — 11.  In  particular,  he  fre- 
quently makes  use  of  this  very  comprehensive  expression 
in  the  prayer  to  God,  which  he  uttered  shortly  before  his 
crucifixion,  John  xvii.  Among  other  things,  in  v.  18, 
he  says  expressly  that  as  God  had  sent  him  into*  the  world, 
so  he  would  send  his  disciples  into  the  world ;  that  the 
world,  all  mankind,  should  yet  learn  to  consider  him  as  the 
messenger  of  God,  v.  27.  Now  in  these  passages,  it  cannot 
be  doubted,  that  the  phrase,  the  world,  means  all  man- 
kind without  exception,  for  it  cannot  be  limited  in  any  res- 
pect, without  opposing  the  usus  loqvendi.  Jesus,  there- 
fore, unquestionably  had  the  whole  human  family  in  view 
and  consequently  deserves  well  of  all  mankind."^ 

Jesus  however  makes  use  of  other  phrases  of  the  same 
import,  for  designating  the  greatest  universality,  whenever 
he  speaks  of  the  extent  of  the  plan.  He  says  that  he  in- 
tended to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  Matt.  20:  28, 
and  Mark  10:  45  ;  that  his  blood  was  to  be  shed  for 
many.  Matt.  16:28.  Mark  14:24.     Now  we  know  that 


t  In  Matt.  5:  13, 14  also,  the  destination  of  the  apostles  to  be- 
come the  teachers  and  reformers  of  mankind  at  large,  is  expressed 
with  sufficient  clearness. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  23 

thfe  many,  according  to  the  usus  loquendi  of  the  Hebrew, 
are  the  whole  multitude  spoken  of,  and  consequently  in 
this  place  the  whole  humari  family,  Rom.  5;  15,  comp. 
V.  12.  This  expression  therefore  is  used  to  designate 
the  extent  of  Christ's  benevolence,  and  show  that  he  was 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  all  mankind.  In  Matt. 
18:  11,  he  states,  that  the  object  of  his  coming  into  the 
world,  was,  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  comp.  Luke 
19:  10,  and  Matt.  9:  13,  and  procure  eternal  happi- 
ness for  all  who  obey  him,  John  6:  38 — 40.  Conse- 
quently it  was  his  intention  to  leave  none  unaided  who 
stood  in  need  of  his  assistance,  but  to  devote  himself  to 
the  welfare  of  all  without  exception.  Even  the  term  all, 
however,  is  employed.  In  John  12:  20 — 32,  we  are 
informed  that  some  Greeks,  that  is  heathen,  who  had 
turned  Jews,  having  come  up  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate 
the  passover,  were  anxious  to  form  an  acquaintance  with 
Jesus,  and  made  known  their  wishes  to  Andrew  and  Phi- 
lip. As  he  was  expected  soon  to  establish  a  splendid 
earthly  kingdom,  probably  their  only  object  was  to  re- 
commend themselves  to  his  notice,  by  a  timely  introduc- 
tion. He  therefore  evinced  no  desire  to  see  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  his  answer  to  the  two  disciples,  he 
compared  himself  to  a  grain  of  wheat,  which  must  die 
before  it  can  bring  forth  any  fruit,  and  gave  them  to  un- 
derstand that  his  end  was  drawing  near ;  that  the  man, 
who  would  obtain  the  reward,  must  pass  through  such  diffi- 
culties as  he  had  done ;  that  immediately  after  his  death, 
his  cause,  which,  like  a  grain  of  wheat,  was  soon  to  under- 
go great  changes,  should  germinate  and  bring  forth  abun- 
dance of  fruit ;  and  that  then  he  should  draw  all  men  unto 
him,  for  that  then,  the  time  would  have  come  for  him  to 
devote  himself  indiscriminately  to  the  welfare  of  all.*  A- 
bout  this  time,  or  shortly  before  his  death,  he  held  a  pri- 
vate conversation  with  his  apostles,  respecting  the  destruc- 
tion that  awaited  their  country,  the  city,  and  the  temple, 
— * 

*  Nosselt,  Opusculoruin  ad  interpretat.  Sacr.  Scripturar.   Fasc.  II. 
Diss.  [,  p.  3  seqq. 


24 

in  which,  according  to  Mark  13:  10,  he  told  ihem  ex- 
pressly, that  his  doctrines  must  first  be  preached  among 
all  nations.  In  the  solemn  prayer  to  God,  already  quot- 
ed, John  17:  2,  he  declares  his  determination  to  give 
eternal  life  to  all  flesh,  all  mankind,  as  far  as  God  had 
marked  them  out  for  his  disciples  and  followers.  The 
command,  however,  which  he  gave  to  his  disciples  on 
his  departure  out  of  the  world,  is  decisive  in  respect  to 
the  universality  of  his  plan.  In  it  he  no  longer  limits 
their  labors  to  Palestine  or  the  Jewish  nation,  but  orders 
them  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature, — all  mankind  without  exception,  Mark  16: 
15 ;  to  teach  all  nations  and  baptize  them,  Matt.  28: 
19.  Luke  24:  47  ;  and  tells  them  that  ^they  shall  be  his 
witnesses  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria 
and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,'  Acts  1:  8.  Lan- 
guage, therefore,  contains  no  expression  indicative  of  the 
greatest  universality,  of  which  Jesus  did  not  make  use, 
in  order  to  express  the  compass  of  his  plan.  It  is  im- 
possible to  convey  the  idea,  that  he  had  all  mankind  in 
view,  in  stronger  and  more  definite  terms  than  he  has 
done  it. 

(c)  The  doctrines  which  Jesus  taught  and  inculcated,  al- 
so exhibit  indubitable  traces  of  that  extension  of  thought, 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  and  of  efforts  to  effect 
a  benevolent  change  in  behalf  of  the  whole  human  family, 
and  to  facilitate  its  accomplishment.  Of  his  strong  declara- 
tions against  the  traditions  of  the  Jews,  which  had  tended 
so  much  to  prevent  them  from  holding  familiar  intercourse 
with  the  heathen,  I  have  already  taken  notice.*  He  also 
rejected  the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  food,  which 
had  contributed  not  a  little  to  increase  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  such  intercourse,  Mark  7:  14 — 23,  and  with 
the  greatest  animation   attacked  the  national  pride  of  his 

*  [The  Talmud  is  at  the  present  day  one  of  the  principal  obstacles 
to  the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  Vid.  Von  Kortum,  Ueber  Juden- 
thuin  und  Juden,  S.  17  f.  44  ff;  Rohrer,  Ueber  die  Judischen  Be- 
wohner  der  Oesterr.  Monarchic,  S.  120  ff. 
Vorbesserung  der  Israeliten  in  Pohlen,  S.  18  ff.  22  ff.] 


TOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  25 

tountrymen,  which  had  been  one  of  its  mightiest  obstacles. 
He  most  vehemently  censured  that  show  of  sanctity  under 
which  the  Pharisees  attracted  the  admiration  of  the  ig- 
norant populace,  looked  upon  the  heathen  as  contempti- 
ble, and  represented  all  intercourse  with  them    as  con- 
taminating.*    He  most  urgently  recommended   a   thor- 
ough reformation  of  the  heart  and  life,   and  the  worship 
of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.     It  was  necessary  for  him 
to  do  all  this,  in  order  to  prepare  his  countrymen  for  the 
peaceable   abolition  of  their  ceremonial  services,  which 
had  hitherto  proved  an  impassible  barrier  between  them 
and  other  nations,  and  been  considered  as  containing  the 
essence  of  pure  morality  and  true  religion.     He  inculca- 
ted nothing  with  more  earnestness  than  a  belief  in  the  uni- 
versal and  impartial  love  of  God,  which  is  extended  to 
the  very  fowls  of  heaven  ;.on  which  account,  he  usually 
called  God  the  Father  in  heaven.     It  was  impossible  for 
any  one  to  contemplate  this  doctrine  and  its  resuhs,  with- 
out vievN^ing  the  heathen  in  a  milder  light,  and  approach- 
ing them  with  feelings  of  benevolence  and  esteem.     He 
spoke  of  nothing  in  higher  terms  than  the  kindness  with 
which  God  pardons  the  vicious  and  wandering,  as  soon  as 
they  lepent  and  reform.     What  can  be  more  touching  and 
beautiful,  than  the  manner  in  which,  in  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son,  Luke  15:  11 — 32,  he  applies  this  truth  to  the 
heathen,  and  exhibits  them,  after  a  long  wandering,  as  re- 
turning and  again  received  into  their  father's  house  ?f    In 

*  Examine  interpreters  upon  Matt.  15:  26.  It  is  the  misanthrop- 
ical disposition  of  this  sect  in  particular,  and  not  that  of  the  whole 
nation,  which  Tacitus  describes  in  his  history,  1.  V.  c.  5.  The  Phar- 
isees, as  this  writer  remarks,  actually  had  "  adversus  omnes  alios 
hostile  odium;"  and  what  he  subjoins  immediately  afterwards  respect- 
ing the  proselytes  which  they  made,  was  true  of  them  in  the  high- 
est sense  :  "  Nee  quicquam  prius  imbuuntur,  quam  contemnere 
Deos,  exuere  patriam  ;  parentes,  liberos,  fratres  vilia  habere  ;"  a 
true  commentary  upon  the  words  of  Jesus  ;  "  Woe  unto  you  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  for  ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make 
one  proselyte ;  and  when  he  is  made,  ye  make  him  two  fold  more 
the  child  of  hell  than  yourselves,"  Matt.  23:  15. 

t  Michaelis'  remarks  upon  this  passage,  S.  454  ;  [In  the  notes 
doubtless,  appended  to  his  translation  of  the  N.  T.  in  Germ. — Tr.] 

3 


26 

order  to  inspire  his  proud  and  cruel  countrymen  with  milder 
dispositions  and  feelings  towards  others,  he  represents  the 
exalted  worth  of  human  nature  in  the  liveliest  colors,  and 
shows  them,  that  it  ought  to  be  respected,  even  in  the 
smallest  child  and  meanest  slave.  Finally,  what  was  bet- 
ter calculated  to  soften  the  hard-heartedness  of  the  Jews 
and  prepare  them  for  more  familiar  intercourse  with  the 
heathen,  than  the  command  to  love  all  mankind,  which  he 
grounded  upon  the  universal  love  of  the  Father  in  heaven, 
who  makes  his  sun  to  shine  upon  all  nations,  and  sends 
his  rain  as  plentifully  upon  the  fields  of  the  vicious,  as 
those  of  the  virtuous  ?  By  representing  love  to  mankind 
in  connexion  with  love  to  the  Father  in  heaven,  as  the 
substance  of  all  morality,  he  entirely  and  forever  abolish- 
ed all  party  considerations  in  respect  to  distinction  of  fam- 
ily, rank,  nation  and  religion.  The  neighbour  to  be  loved 
as  one's  self,  was  every  man  without  exception,  Luke  10: 
29 — 37.  Now  the  object  which  Jesus  had  in  view  in  all 
these  instructions  is  perfectly  evident.  As  far  as  com- 
prehended and  followed,  they  would  necessarily  expand 
the  human  heart,  and  excite  that  noble  public  spirit,  with- 
out which  no  great  and  benevolent  plan  can  ever  be  carried 
into  effect.  It  is  only  when  we  admit  that  Jesus  had  a 
plan  in  view,  which  aimed  at  the  good  of  all  mankind,  that 
we  perceive  the  reason  why  these  doctrines  constituted  the 
main  part  of  his  instructions,  and  why  he  was  so  anxious 
to  instil  them  into  the  very  hearts  of  his  hearers. 

§  12.  From  what  has  been  said  then,  it  follows,  that 
there  is  the  highest  degree  of  probability  of  which  such  a 
thing  is  capable,  in  favor  of  the  position,  that  Jesus  was 
engaged  in  a  plan  of  universal  extent ;  for  he  has  declar- 
ed all  mankind  to  be  the  object  of  his  efforts  and  cares  ; 
not  in  a  few  cases,  but  often  ;  not  in  ambiguous  and  re- 
served, but  in  definite  and  unreserved  language  ;  not  in  a 
cold  and  indifferent  manner,  but  with  an  energy,  warmth, 
and  holy  ardor  which  boldly  met  every  obstacle,  and 
sacrificed  life  itself  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  great 
object  in  view.     In  short,  the  unlimited  universality  of  his 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OP  ALL  MEN.  27 

purpose  is  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  his  words,  actions, 
and  instructions.  It  is  no  where  said  or  intimated,  that 
he  waited  until  he  found  himself  incapable  of  producing 
any  effect  upon  his  own  countrymen,  and  was  obliged  to 
relinquish  his  plan  of  rescuing  them  from  moral  and  po- 
litical degradation,  before  he  expanded  his  views  and  di- 
rected his  thoughts  to  foreigners.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
have  shown  that  the  universality  of  his  plan  commenced 
with  his  ministry.  The  first  year  of  his  public  labors  had 
scarcely  elapsed,  before  he  spoke  of  receiving  the  hea- 
then into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Matt.  8:  11,  12,  and  in- 
formed the  Samaritan  woman,  that  the  whole  earth  was 
soon  to  be  consecrated  as  a  temple  to  the  service  of  God, 
and  God  to  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  John  4: 
21 — 24.  True,  he  spoke  in  clearer  and  stronger  terms 
upon  the  subject  towards  the  close  of  his  public  career, 
but  that  his  plan  was  perfected  at  its  very  commencement, 
cannot  be  denied.  He  kept  its  accomplishment  before 
him  in  every  step  that  he  took  while  on  the  theatre  of  ac- 
tion, with  a  clearness,  which  could  have  resulted  only 
from  his  having  in  view  a  plan  accurately  formed,  and 
perfected  in  all  its  parts.  Every  thing  that  he  taught  and 
did,  was  exactly  to  the  purpose. — Had  he  had  nothing  of 
the  kind  in  contemplation,  he  would  not  have  cast  so 
many  glances  at  this  great  object,  while  under  the  neces- 
sity of  confining  his  labors  to  his  countrymen,  nor  have 
observed  on  so  many  occasions  that  he  felt  himself  called 
to  be  something  more  than  a  reformer  of  the  obstinate 
Jews.  One  of  the  finest  objects  of  history  is  to  make  us 
acquainted  with  great  men,  and  enable  us  to  develop 
their  plans.  In  the  present  case,  it  has  accomplished  this 
object  most  effectually ;  and  the  great  man  cannot  be  found 
who  has  so  often  and  so  clearly  expressed  himself  respect- 
ing the  compass  of  his  enterprises  and  plans  as  Jesus. 
Were  we,  therefore,  as  unprejudiced  and  impartial  in  judg- 
ing of  him,  as,  according  to  rule,  we  usually  are,  in  judg- 
ing of  others,  we  should  never  hesitate  to  believe,  that 
Jesus  had  the  good  of  all  men  in  view,  and  be  constrain- 
ed to  admit,  that  every  thing  that  history  has  ever  said 


28 

respecting  the  views  of  any  great  man,  must  be  uncertain, 
if  no  certainty  be  found  here.* 


IT.  The  character  of  Christ's  plan. 

^13.  But  what  were  Chrisfs  real  intentions^  what 
character  did  he  give  to  his  plan  ?  In  answering  this  ques- 
tion, I  shall  confine  myself  closely  to  what  the  Evangelists 
have  said  upon  the  subject.  If  the  expressions  which  they 
use  be  impartially  compared  together,  we  shall  find  that 
they  exhibit  a  clearness  and  connexion,  which  must  re- 
move every  important  doubt  respecting  the  real  character 
of  Christ's  plan. 

Jesus  commenced  his  public  career  with  the  declara- 
tion, that  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  the  kingdom  of  God 
was  at  hand,  M^it,  4:  17.  Mark  1:  15.  Luke  4 :  43, 
and  conducted  in  a  manner,  from  which  every  one  may 
see,  that  it  was  not  his  intention  to  be  considered  mere- 
ly as  a  herald  and  harbinger  of  this  heavenly  kingdom, 
but  as  its  author  and  founder.  From  the  whole  course 
he  pursued,  it  is  evident  that  his  object  was  to  pre- 
pare for  a  mighty  change  upon  earth.  He  spoke  of  a 
commission  which  be  had  received  from  God,  in  the 
execution  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  engage,  John  10: 
18.  12:  49,  50;  and  of  a  work,  which  God  had  intrust- 
ed to  him,  John  4:  34.  9:  4.  17:  4.  He  early  chose  as- 
sistants to  be  educated  agreeably  to  his  views,  and  ultimate- 
ly employed  as  his  delegates,  Mark  3:  13 — 19.  Luke  6: 
12 — 16.  Matt.  10:  2 — 4.  He  declared,  that  by  means 
of  these  delegates  he  would  establish  an  imperishable 
church,  Matt.  16:  18,  19,  and  invite  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  to  participate  inlhe  kingdom  of  God,  Mark  16: 
15.  Matt.  28:  19.  Finally,  he  always  represented  his 
own  life,  as  the  expense  at  which  this  divine  kingdom 
should  be  established  upon  earth,  John  10:  1 1 — 16.  Matt. 
21:  33—44.  26:  28.  Luke  22:  20  ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  he  spoke  of  himself,  as  the  most  distinguished  per- 

*  Vid.  Appendix  B. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  29 

sonage  in  the  new  state,  as  its  head  and  king,  Matt.  20:  20 
—23.  21:38,42.  24:30.  25:31.  John  10:  11—16. 
17:  2.   18:  36,37. 

§  14.  That  the  manner  in  which  Jesus  introduced 
himself  to  his  countrymen,  had  a  reference  to  the  e^- 
pectaiions  they  entertained,  is  perhaps  undeniable.  Had 
they  not  at  this  time,  been  looking  for  such  a  change  as 
was  commonly  signified  by  the  expressions,  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  the  kingdom  of  God,  under  which  they  com- 
prehended the  sum  of  their  most  exalted  hopes  and  de- 
sires, it  would  have  been  in  vain  for  him  to  predict  the  ap- 
proach of  such  a  kingdom,  for  people  would  have  paid  no 
attention  to  the  notice  and  have  altogether  neglected  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  event;  but,  because  Jesus 
made  use  of  this  attractive  form  of  expression  in  order  to 
give  a  concise  intimation  of  his  purpose,  it  by  no  means 
follows,  that  with  it  he  combined  such  views  and  expec- 
tations as  his  countrymen  had  done ;  nor,  because  he 
made  his  appearance  as  the  author  and  founder  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  that  he  pledged  himself  to  the  per- 
formance of  every  thing  which  they  expected  and  demand- 
ed of  this  kingdom.*  We  must  ascertain  what  views  he  had 
respecting  the  kingdom  of  God  which  he  came  to  estab- 
lish, entirely  from  his  own  explanations.  This  is  the  only 
way  to  avoid  imputing  to  him  something  false,  and  proceed- 
ing upon  the  gratuitous  supposition,  that  his  views  re- 
specting the  kingdom  of  heaven,  coincided  with  the  ex- 
pectations of  his  countrymen.  In  order,  therefore,  to  ob- 
tain a  right  apprehension  of  the  character  of  his  plan,  I 
shall  examine  his  description  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
the  establishment  of  which  he  declares  to  have  been  the 

*  [This  is  one  of  the  principal  arguments  adduced  by  the  Fragment- 
ist,  Vom  Zweeke  Jesu,  S.  10—12.  24  fF.  108—113. 129—133,  in  sup- 
port of  his  assertion  respecting  the  political  plan  of  Jesus.  Moreover 
It  was  proper  that  Christ  should  reject  those  capricious  views  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  which  originated  in  the  contracted  dispositions  and 
feelings  of  his  nation,  and  commence  with  the  purer  ones  grounded 
upon  the  Old  Testament,  and  which  the  Jews  might  and  would  have 
known,  had  they  examined  the  Scriptures  in  a  conscientious  man- 
ner.   Comp.  Matt.  22:  29.] 

3* 


30  SKETCH  OF  CHRIST^S  I»LAN 

principal  object  of  his  appearance  upon  earthy  and  of  alt 
his  efforts. 

§  15.  There  is  a  great  lack  of  credible  information  as 
to  the  history  of  the  Jews  and  their  mode  of  thinking,  at 
the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  very  difficult,  therefore,  to 
form  accurate  conceptions  of  the  views  which  this  nation 
entertained  respecting  the  kingdom  of  God,  of  which  they 
were  then  in  expectation.  It  is  quite  certain,  however,  that 
they  flattered  themselves  with  pleasing  dreams  of  an  earth- 
ly kingdom,  and  were  anticipating  a  change,  which  should 
not  only  restore  them  to  freedom  and  civil  independence, 
but  put  them  in  the  possession  of  every  sensual  enjoyment, 
and  give  them  a  splendid  dominion  over  the  other  nations 
of  the  earth.*  Those  Jews  to  be  found  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, had  similar  expectations  ;f  nor  were  the  disciples  of 
Christ  themselves  destitute  of  them,  as  is  perfectly  evident 
from  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists. 

§  16.  Every  thing  that  Jesus  did,  on  the  other  hand, 
goes  to  prove,  to  the  greatest  degree  of  certainty,  that  by 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  he  understood  no  such  thing  as  a 
universal  monarchy  of  the  Jews. 

(a)  It  is  well  known  that  he  made  his  appearance  in 
the  greatest  poverty.  Matt.  8:  20.  Luke  9:  58,  and  liv- 
ed upon  the  generosity  of  his  friends,  Luke  8:  3.  It  is 
also  well  known,  that,  so  far  from  seeking  any  connexion 
with  the  rich  and  powerful,  he  was  careful  to  avoid  them, 
John  4:  46 — 50.  Luke  9:  9.  Particularly  deserving  of 
notice,  however,  is  the  zeal  with  which,  on  every  occa- 
sion, he  attacked  the  Pharisees,  the  strongest  party  among 
bis  countrymen,  and  seemed  purposely  to  excite  their 
indignation.  Had  it  been  his  intention  to  effect  a  political 
change,  he  would  have  courted  their  favor,  and  been  oblig- 


*  Vid.  Corrodi,  Kritische  Geschichte  des  Chiliasmus,  Band  I.  S. 
108  if.,  and  Hess,  Ueber  die  Lehren,  Thaten,  und  Schicksale  unsers 
Herrn,  Abschn.  V.  S.  135  ff.  [Ausgb.  v.  1806,  B.  I.  Abschn.  VI.  S. 
386  ff.] 

t  Lardner's  credibility  of  the  Gospel  History,  Part  I.  Book  I.  Ch. 
V.  p.  169  seqq. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  31 

ed  to  unite  himself  with  them.*  Instead  of  doing  so,  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  common  people,  Matt.  9:  36.  11: 
5,  and  especially  to  those,  who  were  for  the  most  part 
despised  and  neglected,  Luke  5:  29,  30.  15:  I,  2.  His 
sole  object  in  this  was,  to  instruct  them  in  religion  and  la- 
bor for  their  moral  improvement,  Matt.  11:  5.  Luke  5: 
31,  32.  That  he  did  not  do  so  in  order  to  obtain  the 
affections  of  the  multitude,  and  employ  them  in  accom- 
.plishing  something  of  a  political  nature,  is  evident  from  the 
fact,  as  will  be  shown  farther  on,  that  he  made  his  escape 
from  them  and  retired,  as  soon  as  he  saw  his  efforts  pro- 
duce any  unusual  excitement  among  them,  John  6:  15. 
In  general,  nothing  is  to  be  found  in  any  of  his  discourses 
respecting  the  public  affairs  of  the  nation  and  the  condition 
of  the  state.  On  the  other  hand,  he  put  off  all  those  who 
applied  to  him  upon  such  subjects,  Luke  12:  13, 14.  John 
8.  1 — 11,  and  once,  when  constrained  to  give  his  opin- 
ion in  regard  to  a  political  question  proposed  to  him,  he 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  supporting  the  established  con- 
stitution and  yielding  obedience  to  the  Romans,  Matt.  22: 
17,  21.  Mark  12:  13—17.  Luke  20:  20—26.  Be- 
sides, he  never  appeared  with  the  bustle  and  importunity 
of  a  demagogue,  determined  to  effect  a  political  revolution, 
and  give  a  new  constitution  to  the  state,  but  always  in  the 
peaceful  capacity  of  a  teacher,  who  had  the  instruction, 
and  moral  improvement  of  his  fellow  citizens  solely  at 
heart. 

(b)  Let  us  now  attend  to  the  declarations  which  he  com- 
bined with  such  conduct.  He  was  asked  when  the  king- 
dom of  God  should  come.  His  answer  was,  '  It  will  not 
be  announced  by  visible  pomp,  nor  excite  surprise,  for  it 
has  its  seat  in  the  inner  man,  Luke  17:  20,  21.f      He 

•  The  best  accounts  of  the  almost  boundless  influence  which  this 
sect  exerted  upon  the  nation,  are  given  by  Josephus.  Comp.  par- 
ticularly, Antiq,  1.  XIII.  c.  10.  §5  Havercamp's  ed.,  [Whiston'a 
trans,  the  same,  Tr.  ;]  also  Serarii  Trihaeresium,  1.  II.  c.  13.  p.  79. 

t  This  interpretation  is  most  agreeable  to  the  usus  loquendi  and 
the  context.  For  the  usus  loquendi,  vid.  Schleusner's  Lex.  under 
the  world,  svTog.    This  meaning  is  required  by  the  context,  because 


told  his  apostles,  who  delighted  to  indulge  themselves  In 
pleasing  dreams  respecting  the  greatness  and  power  which 
they  should  possess  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Lord,  in  di- 
rect and  definite  terms,  that  they  had  no  earthly  power  to 
expect ; — that  their  greatness  was  to  consist  in  being  every 
man's  servant,  and  doing  good  to  all.  Matt.  20:  25 — 28. 
Mark  10:  42 — 45.  Luke  22:  25—27,  and  pronounced 
the  petition  of  the  mother  of  James  and  John,  that  her 
sons  might  be  exalted  to  the  dignity  of  the  first  officers 
of  state  in  the  new  monarchy,  a  very  foolish  one.  Matt. 
20:  20—22.  Mark  10:  35—38.  On  this  same  occa- 
sion, he  observed,  that  it  was  not  his  object  to  subdue  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  to  his  control ;  that  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  he  was  rather  to  become  the  servant  of  all,  and 
offer  his  life  in  sacrifice  for  their  good.  Matt.  20:  28. 
Mark  10:  45.  Of  this  offering  his  life  in  sacrifice,  which 
is  directly  opposed  to  the  idea  that  he  intended  to  usurp 
the  place  of  an  earthly  ruler  over  his  people,  or  the  hu- 
man race,  he  spoke  on  every  suitable  occasion  ;  and 
whenever  he  saw  his  disciples  elated  with  bold  and  joyful 
expectations,  respecting  the  approach  of  an  earthly  king- 
dom of  splendor,  in  order  to  suppress  such  thoughts,  he 
informed  them  particularly  and  directly,  that  his  end 
was  near,  Luke  9:  43,44.  Matt.  16:  18,  19,  comp. 
vs.  21 — ^25.  It  is  well  known  that  he  had  his  death  in 
prospect  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  co-operated  in 
hastening  it,  and  went  up  to  Jerusalem  on  purpose  to  die. 
Matt.  20:17 — 19.  John  11:  7 — 10;* — a  circumstance 

the  phrase,  within  you,  is  opposed  to  every  thing  which  strikes  the 
senses;  every  thing  external  whatever,  Rom.  14: 17.  [It  will  not  des- 
troy the  force  of  the  passage,  however,  as  a  proof  text  in  this  case,  if 
the  other  interpretation  be  given  to  it,  defended  in  particular  by  E.  S. 
Cyprian,  Warnung  vor  Gleichgaltigkeit  der  Religg.,  S.  81—84,  and  it 
be  rendered ;  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  person  of  the  Messi- 
ah, has,  without  being  recognized,  already  in  silence  made  its  ap- 
pearance among  you,"  (comp.  John  1:  26,)  since  Christ  opposed  this 
noiseless  appearance  to  the  pomp  of  a  political  kingdom.] 

*  [Comp.  Eusebius,  Demonstr.  Evang.  III.  4.  p.  108;  Ovds  oKotg 
/5taiov  VTTfusivs  ri?.svTijv,  uX?.''  wg  cevro  ^lovov  sxiav  naosSiSov  roig  ini- 
^ovXtvovai  TO  aaniw — atfiirog  y.ai  iXsv-&iQos  avTog  ay'  aavrov  rtjv  ix  lov 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  33 

in  itself  sufficient  to  prove  that  he  had  no  intentions  of  es- 
tablishing an  earthly  monarchy.  And  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  this,  he  finally  told  Pilate  that  his  kingdom  was 
not  of  this  world,  and  that  he  had  never  aimed  at  the  acqui- 
sition of  external  power,  as  then  he  should  have  armed  his 
followers  and  put  himself  at  their  head,  and  not  have  so  pa- 
tiently surrendered  himself  up  to  his  enemies,  John  18: 
36.  More  he  could  not  have  done  to  prove  that  he 
neither  shared  in  the  prevailing  expectations  of  his  coun- 
trymen, nor  ever  intended  to  satisfy  them;  and  we  may 
truly  say,  that  the  principal  reason  why  he  gave  him- 
self up  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  and  departed 
from  the  world  by  so  early  and  ignominious  a  death,  was, 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  forever,  to  annihilate  the  idea,  that 
it  was  his  object  to  found  an  earthly  kingdom,  and  to  give 
a  different  direction  to  the  thoughts,  wishes,  and  efforts  of 
his  disciples  and  friends."^ 

§  17.  Now  if  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  which  Jesus  an- 
nounced at  the  commencement  of  his  public  career,  and 
which  he  came  to  found,  was  not  an  earthly  monarchy, 
it  must  have  been  a  inoral  institution,  a  kingdom  of  truth 
and  virtue, 

1.  That  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  he  intended  to  es- 
tablish upon  earth  and  fill  with  all  nations,  was  actually 
such  an  institution,  he  repeatedly  and  plainly  declared  ; 
and  did  it  with  such  earnestness  and  animation,  as  to 
leave  an  impartial  man  no  room  to  doubt  that  this  was 
the  sole  object  of  the  plan  which  engrossed  his  thoughts, 
and  in  the  execution  of  which  he  labored  and  died.  He 
commenced  his  ministry  by  demanding  repentance,  and  a 
reformation  of  the  corrupt  morals  then  prevalent,  because 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand.  This  was  the  purport 
of  almost  the  first  sentence  that  he  uttered.  Matt.  4:  17. 

GwuuTog  avax^grjoiv  Inoiiiro'  and  C.  C.  Flatt,  Lftsst  sich  der  Tod  Je- 
BU  aus  einem  rationalist.  Gesichtspuncte  betrachten  ?  in  Sasskind'a 
Magazin,  XII.  1 — 24,  together  with  the  supplement,  in  Bengel's 
Archiv,  I.  1.  17 — 45,  compared  with  C.  L.  Nitzsch,  De  Mortis  a  J.  C. 
oppetitae  necessitate  morali,  Wittenb.  1810-11.] 

*  [A  most  decisive  proof,  that  Christ  was  free  from  all  thoughts 
of  a  worldly  power,  is  derived  from  the  history  of  the  temptation,  in 


34 

From  it  even  his  disciples  could  at  first  discover  but  lit- 
tle relative  to  the  object  before  him,  or  intimating  that 
they  should  so  soon  be  obliged  to  share  in  his  labors,  and 
assist  in  also  preaching  repentance,  Mark  6:  12.  When 
he  called  them  from  the  employment  of  fishermen,  he  told 
them,  that,  from  henceforth,  they  should  catch  men,  Mark 
1:  17.  Luke  5:  10;*  and  the  commissions,  which  he  in- 
trusted to  them,  most  clearly  prove  this  catching  of  men 
to  have  been  winning  them  and  obtaining  possession  of 
them  for  moral  purposes.  When  the  attention  which  he 
had  excited  among  the  people  was  such  as  to  furnish  him 
with  opportunity  for  discoursing  to  them  more  at  large, 
he  made  it  the  principal  object  and  the  genuine  spirit  of 
of  all  he  said,  to  impart  moral  information,  and  he  told 
them  in  every  possible  way,  sometimes  in  plain  words,  at 
others,  in  striking  parables,  that  he  had  the  moral  improve- 
ment of  mankind  in  view,  and  that  nothing  but  a  love  of 
truth  and  virtue  would  ever  entitle  a  man  to  the  right  of 
citizenship  in  the  government  about  to  be  established. 
The  very  first  of  his  discourses  in  detail,  which  has  been 
preserved  by  Matthew,  chap.  5 — 7,  is  full  of  such  as- 
sertions. It  is  entirely  composed  of  moral  precepts  and 
contains  Christ's  annunciation  of  himself  as  an  improver 
of  morality  and  a  decided  opposer  of  the  Pharisees,  who 
were  its  chief  corrupters  among  the  people.  In  the  very 
beginning  of  it,  he  assures  them  that  the  kingdom  of  heav- 
en was  particularly  designed  for  such  poor  men  as  the 
apostles  were.  Matt.  5:  3,  comp.  chap.  15:  23,  24  ;t — 

which  we  are  told  that  he  rejected  the  proposed  plan  for  obtaining 
worldly  power  with  the  greatest  disdain  as  something  satanic,  and 
altogether  at  variance  with  the  designs  of  God,  Matt.  4:  8 — 10.  The 
passage  will  prove  this,  even  if  taken  as  a  parable  ;  which,  however, 
is  altogether  inadmissible,  since  it  is  indirect  opposition  to  all  the 
natural  rules  of  a  parable,  to  unite  a  historical  person  with  those  that 
are  merely  feigned  ;  and  whenever  Christ  speaks  of  himself  in 
parables,  he  represents  himself  under  a  fictitious  personage.] 

*  Vid.  Euthymius  Zigabenus  and  Grotius  at  this  passage. 

t  That  this  passage  must  be  understood  of  those  who  were  desti- 
tute of  wealth  and  power,  has  been  shown  by  Grotius  in  a  manner 
which  places  it  beyond  all  reasonable  controversy.  [The  explanation 
which  Grotius  gives  of  Matt.  5:  3,  is  hardly  tenable.    He  does  not 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  35 

men,  who  felt  a  lively  zeal  in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  pie- 
ty and  were  ready  to  endure  persecutions  in  it,  v.  1 0. 
Mark  8:  34,  35.  Luke  6:  22,  23 ;— men,  who  looked 
for  their  reward  in  another  world,  and  thus  participated 
in  the  lot  of  those,  who  had  labored  and  suffered  in  this 
cause  before  them,  v.  12.  It  is  obvious,  that  the  qualities 
which  Jesus  here  requires  of  his  followers,  stood  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  sensual  expectations  of  his  countrymen, 
and  had  reference  solely  to  a  moral  institution.  The  admo- 
nitions and  warnings,  given  in  the  subsequent  part  of  the  dis- 
course, relate  purely  to  objects  of  a  moral  character.  It  is 
particularly  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  v.  20,  he  express- 
ly declares  that  every  thing  must  be  entirely  changed  in 
a  moral  point  of  view  from  what  it  had  hitherto  been,  for 
that  the  virtue  of  the  Pharisees  which  had  been  so  highly 
exalted,  and  for  which  his  countrymen  felt  the  greatest 
esteem,  was  far  too  imperfect  ever  to  fit  a  man  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  This  he  proved  very  circumstan- 
tially, by  unfolding  the  true  meaning  of  some  of  the  main 
precepts  of  morality  and  representing  them  in  all  their 
sanctity,  in  order  thus  to  exhibit  the  little  agreement  there 
was  between  them  and  the  conduct  of  the  Pharisees, 
chap.  5:  seqq.  6:  18.      Now  as  nothing  could  be  more 

indeed,  contrary  to  all  grammatical  rules  as  it  would  be,  connect 
nv6v^ari  with  ^laxaQioi,  corap.  Knapp,  Scripta.  var.  arg.  nr.  XI.  p. 
400  seqq.,  but,  what  is  equally  incapable  of  being  proved,  by  the 
spiritually  poor,  he  understands  those  who  bear  their  poverty  with  a 
pious  and  willing  mind.  Jesus  evidently  speaks  of  those,  who,  (comp. 
Isaiah  61:  1.  Luke  4:  18.  Matt.  11:25,)  confess  their  ignorance,  un- 
worthiness,  and  spiritual  inability  ;  and  hence,  what  follows  in  the 
4th  verse,  respects  those  who  mourn  over  their  internal  misery.  In 
the  introduction  to  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  there  is  a  short  ab- 
stract given  of  all  the  gradations  of  Christianity  from  its  commence- 
ment to  its  perfection,  and  the  close  connexion  which  it  exhibits,  re- 
quires that  all  the  members  of  this  chain,  and  of  course  the  first, 
should  designate  a  spiritual  quality.  It  is  evident,  however,  that 
thus  interpreted,  this  passage  is  equally  good,  if  not  better  than  in 
the  other  case,  as  a  proof-text  respecting  the  object  of  Jesus  ;  for 
this  ■perfect  self-resignation,  which  the  Gospel  requires  as  the  first 
condition,  ridiculed  though  it  be  indeed  by  the  natural  man,  such 
for  instance  as  a  Julian  was,  points  out  more  than  any  thing  else, 
the  purely  spiritual  character  of  Christ's  kingdom.] 


36  SKETCH  OF  CHRIST^S   PLAN 

directly  opposed  to  a  system  of  morality,  so  pure,  than  the 
selfishness  of  the  Jews,  which  looked  for  earthly  gain  in 
the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  Jesus  urges  them  to  make  a 
more  correct  estimate  of  the  good  tilings  of  this  life,  and 
consider  every  thing  of  inferior  importance  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  which  had  already  begun,  and  make  it  the 
principal  object  of  their  exertions  to  obtain  admission  into 
this  kingdom,  chap.  6:  1 9 — 34.  He  also  adds  that  a 
man's  merit  can  be  determined  only  by  his  obedience  to 
God,  and  hence  only  by  his  virtue,  and  not  by  his  adhe- 
rence to  the  founder  of  this  kingdom,  or  bis  efforts  to  ex- 
tend it,  chap.  7:  21 — ^23.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  for 
any  one  to  declare  in  stronger  language,  that  the  object 
which  he  has  in  view  is  altogether  of  a  moral  nature,  than 
Jesus  has  done  it,  in  the  very  first  complete  discourse 
which  he  delivered  in  public. 

2.  With  this,  the  figurative  descriptions  which  Christ 
has  given  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  his  parables.  Matt. 
13;  3  seqq.  Mark  4:  2  seqq.  Luke  8:  4  seqq.,  have 
a  very  exact  correspondence.  They  are  the  delinea- 
tions of  an  institution  in  which  every  thing  is  adapted  to 
improve  mankind  and  render  them  happy.  In  another 
place,  he  pronounces  those  the  best  fitted  for  the  kingdom 
of  God,  who  possess  a  feeling  of  universal  benevolence  and 
an  anxious  desire  for  the  advancement  of  moral  digni- 
ty and  perfection.  Matt.  18:  1— -14.  Mark  9:  33—37; 
and,  as  the  rich  are  too  often  deficient  in  these  respects,  he 
declares  it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  Matt.  19:23, 24.  Mark  10:  23—25.  This  ex- 
pression would  have  been  altogether  inappropriate,  had  the 
kingdom  of  God  been  any  thing  but  a  moral  institution, 
requiring  personal  sacrifice  and  self-denial.  In  order  to 
divest  his  language  of  all  ambiguity,  and  tell  his  hearers  in 
the  plainest  manner  possible,  that  none  must  suppose  this 
kingdom  to  contain  any  thing  sensual,  he  assures  them 
that  its  seat  is  in  the  inner  man,  Luke  17:  21,  and  re- 
quires every  one  desirous  of  partaking  in  it,  to  exhibit,  not 
the  courage  and  bravery  of  a  hero,  but  the  teachableness 
and  simplicity  of  a  child,  Luke  18:  16,  17.  Mark  10: 
15,  16. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  37 

3.  If  with  these  we  connect  those  assertions  found  es- 
pecially in  John,  it  will  be  impossible  for  a  doubt  to  re- 
main that  the  kingdom  which  Jesus  was  establishing,  and 
by  which  he  intended  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
whole  world,  was  a  kingdom  of  truth  and  morality.  Soon 
after  he  entered  upon  his  ministry  he  held  a  remarkable 
conversation  with  a  Samaritan  woman,  in  which  he  felt  at 
liberty  to  express  himself  with  far  more  freedom  respect- 
ing his  own  particular  views  than  he  was  accustomed  to 
do  in  the  presence  of  his  countrymen,  whose  prejudices 
he  was  obliged  to  spare.  On  this  occasion  he  entirely 
laid  aside  the  Hebrew  phrase,  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
instead  of  it,  spoke  of  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  as  then  about  to  be  introduced  into  all  parts  of  the 
world  without  regard  to  the  distinctions  of  nation  and 
country,  John  4:  23,  24.  The  Jews  expected  of  the 
Messiah  the  restoration  o{  Xhoiv  freedom.  Jesus^  promised 
freedom,  but  a  freedom  from  the  tyranny  of  'vice,  to  be 
obtained  by  the  power  of  the  truth,  John  8:  31 — 36. 
Shortly  before  his  death  he  conversed  with  his  friends 
respecting  the  great  work  for  which  he  had  selected  them, 
and  in  which  they  were  soon  to  engage.  For  their  en- 
couragement and  support  he  promised  them  nothing  but 
the  Spirit  of  truth.  This  was  not  only  to  guide  them,  but 
through  them  to  teach  and  reform  the  whole  world,  John 
14:  17,  26.  15:  26.  16:  13.  Whatever  we  understand 
by  this  Spirit  of  truth,  we  must  admit  it  to  have  been  given 
to  the  apostles  to  prepare  them  for  the  moral  undertaking, 
the  accomplishment  of  which  had  been  intrusted  to  their 
hands.  I  have  already  observed  that  in  the  presence  of 
Pilate,  Jesus  declared  his  kingdom  to  be  a  kingdom  of 
truth  and  not  of  this  world,  nor  intended  to  injure  the 
power  and  authority  of  its  rulers  in  the  least  degree. 
That  it  was  his  intention  to  benefit  all  men  by  laboring  in 
the  cause  of  morality,  is  a  position  fully  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  he  speaks  in  express  terms  of  a  new  birth,  an  en- 
tire reformation  and  renovation  of  the  heart,  and  in  the 
most  direct  and  definite  manner,  declares  his  intention  to 
create  mankind  anew  and  make  them  better.  In  Matt. 
4 


I 


38 

19:  28,  he  calls  the  new  order  of  things  which  he  had  in 
contemplation,  a  regeneration,  and  that  this  regeneration 
was  not  to  be  a  political  change  nor  a  resuscitation  of 
the  old  national  constitution,  he  asserted  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  deepest  attention,  in  the  well  known  dialogue 
which  he  held  with  Nicodemus,  John  3:  1  seqq.  He 
told  the  astonished  scribe,  with  the  dignity  -of  an  ambassa- 
dor of  God,  who  was  conscious  of  being  engaged  in  the 
most  important  business  and  felt  his  appropriate  sphere  of 
action  to  be  without  the  bounds  of  the  corporeal  world,  vs. 
11 — 13,  that  a  man  must  be  renovated  by  the  influences 
of  a  better  religion  before  he  could  be  admitted  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  v.  3  ;  that  indolent  human  nature,  alto- 
gether sunk  as  it  was  in  sensuality,  must  experience  an 
entirely  new  birth  in  order  to  become  spirit  and  awake 
to  a  higher  moral  life,  vs.  4 — 6  ;*  not  that  there  was  any 
lack  of  spiritual  faculties,  for  they  were  every  where  in 
action,  but  that  they  were  destitute  of  the  proper  direction. 
He  told  Nicodemus  that  they  should  now  receive  the  pro- 
per direction  by  means  of  the  new  birth  under  the  influ- 
ences of  this  better  religion,  v.  8  ;f  that  though  it  would 


*  [Comp.  the  author's  sermon,  J.  1799.  I.  am  Feste  der  Dreyein- 
igkeit,  nr.  22.  S.  442  fF;  "  The  intention  of  Jesus  to  improve  man- 
kind by  means  of  a  new  moral  creation."] 

t  There  is  not  the  least  reason  for  all  at  once  giving  the  word 
Tcvtvua,  a  meaning,  in  this  place,  different  from  what  it  has  at  the 
end  of  the  6th  verse.  There  it  is  used  in  reference  to  the  moral 
powers  of  human  nature,  which  by  means  of  a  higher  influence  in 
connexion  with  the  religion,  are  put  into  appropriate  action;  by  which 
means  man  is  rendered  a  better  being  and  exalted  above  the  objects 

#  sense.  Now  here  in  the  8th  verse  it  is  said  that  these  same  mor- 
powers,  capable  of  being  animated  and  directed  are  every  where 
in  action,  as  well  in  the  heathen  world  as  among  the  Jews,  and  that 
their  language  and  indications  in  human  nature  cannot  possibly  be 
mistaken ;  that  these  powers  had  hitherto  been  destitute  of  a  defi- 
nite direction,  and  not  operated  with  the  requisite  regularity  ; 
and  that  the  formation  of  these  irregulated  powers  by  means  of  the 
better  religion,  and  the  higher  assistance  connected  with  it,  is  the 
object  now  in  view.  Many  ancient  and  modern  interpreters  have 
found  it  hard  to  understand  the  word  7tvsvf.ia  of  the  wind,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  context  and  the  usus  loquendi  of  the  N.  T.  in  other  pla- 
ces.   Comp.  Suicer's  Thesaurus  Eccles.  Tom.  II.  p.  780  and  Wolfs 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  39 

cost  him  his  life  to  effect  this  great  and  universal  change, 
yet  his  death  should  result  in  the  salvation  of  all  mankind,  v. 
14,  for  that  he  came  to  make  all  happy  who  adhered  to 
him  and  were  willing  to  be  improved ;  to  do  good  to  all 
mankind  without  exception,  vs.  15 — 17,  and  hence,  that 
none  should  remain  miserable  but  those  who  hated  the 
truth,  and  out  of  a  love  to  vice,  rejected  it,  vs.  18 — 21. 
Jesus  therefore  had  a  new  moral  creation  in  view.  His 
object  was  to  animate  all  mankind  with  better  life  f — to 
arouse,  direct,  and  enndble  their  spiritual  faculties,  and 
exalt  the  human  race  to  a  state  of  moral  dignity  and 
happiness.  This  was  the  kingdom  of  God  which  he 
had    in  view, — the  important  work  which  occupied    his 


Curae,  at  this  passage.  They  have  not  understood  the  connexion  of 
thought  however,  as  it  must  be  understood,  if  we  give  that  word  its  fig- 
urative meaning.  [The  old  Lutheran  rendering  of  nvevua,  however, 
by  wind,  derives  firm  support  from  the  fact,  that  6vru)g  at  the  end  of 
the  verse,  points  to  a  preceding  parable,  or  comparison.  Comp. 
Knapp,  1.  c.  nr.  VI.  p.  224  seqq.  A  meaning  different  from  the 
Scriptural  usage  does  seem  to  be  here  imputed  to  the  word  TrrttJ/ta, 
as  it  generally  means  the  divine  Spirit  and  its  operations.  That  the 
comparison  which  Christ  has  chosen  for  an  illustration,  is  a  very 
striking  one,  has  been  clearly  shown  by  Heinr.  Muller  in  his  Evan- 
gel. Hertzenspiegel,  upon  this  portion  of  Scripture,]  [The  para- 
phrase which  Reinhard  has  given  of  these  verses  may  appear  some- 
what obscure.  It  is  proper  to  observe,  therefore,  that  in  the  5th 
and  the  first  instance  of  the  6th  verse,  he  evidently  understands 
Ttvsuiia,  to  mean  the  spirit  of  God,  but  in  the  last  instance  of  the  6th 
and  in  the  8th,  the  moral  powers  of  man.  His  views  of  regenera- 
tion are  well  expressed  in  his  Dogmatik.  '  The  Scriptures  clear- 
ly teach  us,'  says  he  in  that  work,  *  that  notwithstanding  the  posses- 
sion of  excellent  faculties  for  doing  good,  we  shall  never  be  able 
to  attain  to  that  perfection  which  the  Gospel  requires,  without  the 
especial  assistance  of  God,  and  attribute  the  whole  work  of  regene- 
ration to  the  gracious  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Tit.  3:  4JWB. 
Gal.  6:  15.  Rom.  8:  1 — 14  &c.  We  are  authorized,  therefore,  to 
assert,  that  man  can  neither  effect  his  own  conversion,  entirely  by 
his  own  strength,  according  to  the  views  of  the  Pelagians,  nor  com- 
mence it  by  his  own  strength,  according  to  those  of  the  Semi-Pela- 
fians,  and  are  constrained  to  admit,  that  every  thing  in  this  respect 
epends  upon  divine  grace:'  §§  82,  83,  123,  and  148,  in  the  last  of 
which,  he  has  given  a  more  particular  explanation  of  these  verses. 
For  the  various  explanations  that  different  interpreters  have  given 
of  them,  consult  the  commentaries  of  Paulus  and  Kuinoel,  and  Titt- 
mann's  Meletamata  Sacra.  Tr] 


40 

his  mind.  It  is  necessary  still  farther  to  explain  the  prin- 
cipal heads  which  Jesus  included  under  this  change  agree- 
ably to  his  own  remarks. 

§  18.  Religion,  morality,  and  society,  are  the  three 
great  topics  which  exert  the  most  influence  in  the  formation 
of  character,  and  make  men,  what  they  are.  Religion, 
when  Jesus  began  his  career,  was,  thronghout  the  world, 
nothing  but  a  miserable  superstition.  Morality  was  either 
neglected,  or  had  been  corrupted  by  principles  which  ei- 
ther relaxed  or  exaggerated  its  claims.  Finally,  the  so- 
cial relations  were  in  the  greatest  disorder,  and  so  unhap- 
pily regulated,  as  to  evince  a  spirit  of  hostility  in  all  their 
parts  and  appear  to  have  been  calculated  for  mutual  sub- 
jugation. If  then  Jesus  intended  to  create  mankind  anew, 
and  radically  improve  the  condition  of  the  world  ;  to  es- 
tablish a  genuine  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth  and  collect 
all  nations  into  it,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  destroy  su- 
perstition and  substitute  true  religion  in  its  stead  ;r— to  pu- 
rify morality,  adapt  it  to  human  nature,  and  procure  for  it 
a  universal  influence  ; — and  finally,  to  act  upon  the  social 
relations,  and  without  directly  attacking  civil  constitutions, 
diffuse  a  spirit  over  the  earth,  which  should  gradually  rec- 
tify abuses,  fill  it  with  universal  peace,  and  elevate  human 
nature  to  the  greatest  perfection  of  which  it  is  capable. 
— It  can  be  shown  that  such  was  the  undertaking  which  Je- 
sus actually  had  in  contemplation,  and  the  particular  charac- 
ter of  his  plan  becomes  perfectly  obvious,  as  soon  as  we 
know  his  designs  in  reference  to  it,  and  what  he  intended 
to  accomplish. 


Religion. 

§  19.  That  the  religion  of  the  human  race,  when  Je- 
sus made  his  appearance  upon  earth,  was  in  reality  noth- 
ing better  than  a  senseless  superstition,  hardly  needs  any 
proof.  All  mankind  were  then  divided  into  Jews  and 
gentiles.      Among  the  heathen,  the  Greeks  and  Romans 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN. 

were  the  only  two  nations  of  any  consider^ftle  ctegree  oi  f*  i,^*.\^' 
cultivation.  All,  that  were  not  under  their  control,  or  par-  yjl_^  * 
takers  of  their  sciences,  regulations,  and  moral  habfts,-  were--" 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  barbarity.  Now  that  what 
was  called  religion  among  the  barbarous  nations  of  that 
age,  was  incontestibly  nothing  but  a  senseless  and  false  be- 
lief, prejudicial  to  morality  and  happiness,  may  be  ascer- 
tained either  from  looking  at  the  representations  of  which 
it  was  composed,  or  at  the  ceremonies  and  regulations 
connected  with  its  practice.  There  is  no  kind  of  idolatry, 
which  was  not  to  be  met  with  among  these  nations.  Here 
Fetichism  prevailed,  there  Sabianism ;  here  the  worship 
of  the  brute  creation,  there  the  worship  of  fire ;  here  the 
adoration  of  heroes  and  demons,  there  the  adoration  of 
allegorical  divinities.  In  most  places,  many  of  these  er- 
rors were  to  be  found  at  the  same  time,  and  in  connex- 
ion with  almost  every  degradation  to  which  human  nature 
is  liable,  and  every  species  of  cruelty  and  wild  extravagance, 
that  can  be  thought  of.  The  public  religion  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  was  not  much  better.  It  was  Polytheism, 
under  the  oppressive  dominion  of  which,  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  remained  in  total  ignorance  of  every  thing 
belonging  to  the  true  worship  of  God.  True,  there  were 
philosophers  in  both  nations  who  sought  to  break  away 
from  the  senseless,  though  popular  belief  then  prevalent, 
and  aspired  after  better  notions  and  more  correct  views. 
Many  of  them,  however,  wandered  while  they  aspired,  re- 
jected all  religion,  and  took  up  with  comfortless  infidelity. 
Others  gave  themselves  up  to  skepticism,  and  declared  the 
existence  of  a  Supreme  being,  his  influence  in  human  af- 
fairs, and  our  existence  after  death,  to  be  problems 
which  man  is  wholly  unable  to  solve.  The  best  of  them 
always  retained  errors  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with 
a  purified  knowledge  of  religion,  and  which  did  not  fail  to 
produce  injurious  effects  in  regard  to  life  and  conduct. 
All  without  exception  agreed  that  the  prevailing  religion 
should  be  respected,  and  its  regulations  and  ceremonies 
attended  to,  for  the  honor  of  the  civil  constitution  to  which 
it  belonged.  Upon  such  principles  it  was  impossible  for 
4* 


42  SKETCH  OF  CHRlST^S  fLAN 

the  more  correct  views  which  had  been  struck  out  by 
philosophizing  reason,  ever  to  come  into  general  circula- 
tion, even  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Hence  they 
always  remained  the  property  of  the  few  who  had  been 
initiated  into  the  secrets  of  science.  The  great  mass  of 
the  people  not  only  continued  in  total  ignorance,  but  were 
induced  to  hold  fast  their  unbelief  with  the  more  obstina- 
cy and  confidence,  from  seeing  philosophers  publicly  pro- 
fess the  name. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  Jews  ?  They  were  free 
indeed  in  the  times  of  Christ  from  the  errors  of  Polythe- 
ism and  idolatry,  but  they  had  changed  the  worship  of  the 
only  true  God  into  slavish  ceremonies  as  much  opposed 
to  genuine  religion,  and  as  prejudicial  to  morality,  as  idol- 
atry itself.  Tlie  Jews  used  to  look  upon  God  as  a  des- 
pot, whose  commands  are  arbitrary,  and  who  is  governed 
in  all  he  does,  by  passionate  self-will.  They  proudly  con- 
ceived themselves  to  be  the  chosen  people  of  God,  and 
preferred  by  him  to  all  others.  By  a  false  and  fanciful 
interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  law,  they  had  been  seduced 
into  the  erroneous  belief,  that  the  most  meritorious  servi- 
ces a  man  can  perform,  and  the  very  essence  of  religion, 
consist  of  corporeal  exercises  and  sacred  ceremonies. 
They  trembled  before  even  the  God  whose  favorites  they 
thought  themselves,  with  boundless  arrogance,  despised 
the  heathen,  and  fancied  themselves  holy,  if,  notwithstand- 
ing the  grossest  vices,  and  the  wildest  extravagances,  they 
fasted  diligently,  offered  sacrifice,  and  yielded  obedience 
to  the  foolish  superstitions  of  their  fathers.  So  corrupt 
therefore  were  the  moral  habits  of  the  people,  so  wretched 
was  their  entire  condition,  and  so  hateful  and  odious  were 
they  in  the  eyes  of  other  nations,  that  they  sincerely  felt 
their  need  of  extraordinary  aid,  and  hence  were  most  anx- 
iously looking  out  for  the  Messiah  from  whom  they  expect- 
ed it.  Under  such  circumstances  we  shall  not  go  too  far 
in  saying,  that  the  spirit  of  true  religion  had  vanished  from 
the  world  in  which  Jesus  made  his  appearance ; — that  the 
pernicious  influence  of  superstition  controlled  every  thing ; 
— and  that  a  mighty  body  of  priests,  whose  welfare  and 


rOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  43 

authority  depended  upon  this  influence,   was  incessantly 
engaged  in  preserving  and  strengthening  it.* 

§  20.  One  of  the  principal  objects  contemplated  in 
the  plan  of  Jesus,  was,  to  provide  a  remedy  for  these  evils, 
destroy  every  kind  of  superstition,  and,  by  the  extension 
of  religious  truth,  make  the  world  acquainted  with  a  ra- 
tional worship  of  God.  For  this  purpose  he  declared  the 
great  doctrine  of  one  only  true  God,  to  be  the  foundation 
of  all  religion,  and  represented  himself  as  God's  delegate, 
commissioned  to  unite  all  men  in  his  worship  and  thereby 
render  them  happy,  John  17:  1 — 3.  Matt.  28:  18,  19. 
By  the  general  promulgation  of  this  fundamental  truth, 
all  kinds  of  heathenish  superstition  were  to  be  forever  ex- 
tirpated, and  a  conviction,  which  had  hitherto  been  the 
exclusive  property  of  the  Jews  and  of  enlightened  philos- 
ophers among  the  heathen,  to  become  the  faith  of  the 
whole  human  family,  the  prevailing  popular  belief.  In 
order  to  prepare  this  great  doctrine  still  farther  for  uni- 
versal promulgation,  and  make  it  more  influential  upon 
mankind,  Jesus  represented  the  only  true  God  as  a  father; 
— not  in  the  sense  in  which  this  phrase  had  sometimes 
been  employed  among  the  Jews  and  heathen,  who  by  it 
designated  the  author,  the  creator  and  the  lord  ;\  but  to 

*  [With  reference  to  these  points,  consult  Hess,  Lehre,  Thaten, 
and  Schichsale  unsers  Herrn,  I.  nr.  1.  and  6  ;  and  introductions  to 
the  history  of  the  Christian  church,  particularly  Neander's  Allg. 
Gesch.  der  christl.  Relig.  I.  1.  S.  1 — 90;  "The  general  condition  of 
the  Romano-Greek  and  Jewish  world  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  at 
the  time  of  the  first  appearance  and  the  farther  extension  of  Chris- 
tianity."] 

t  This  appellation  is  met  with  as  early  as  Deut.  32:  6,  and  with  re- 
ference to  this  passage,  the  prophets,  vid.  Isa.  63: 16. 64:  8.  Jer.  3: 19. 
and  Mai.  1:  6.2;  9,  10,  make  use  of  the  same.  The  passage,  Ps.  103: 
13,  approaches  the  nearest  to  the  representation  which  Jesus  after- 
wards connected  with  this  word;  where,  however,  God  is  not  called 
a  father,  but  compared  to  a  fia,ther.  Among  the  Greeks,  the  word 
father  frequently  meant  the  author,  the  inventor,  the  creator  of  a 
thing  ;  comp.  Casaubonus,  Zura  Athenftus  Deipnos.  1.  I.  c.  1.  p.  3 
seq.  der  Leipz.  Ausg.,  and  in  this  sense  Plato  calls  God  the  Father 
of  all,"  in  Timaeo,  p.  303.  der  Zweybr.  Ausg.  [Tom.  IX.]  Equally 
common  was  it  for  the  Greeks  to  employ  this  word  to  designate  the 
ruler,  the  governor,  the  most  celebrated,  the  chief,  and  hence  in  Ho- 


44 

express  the  disposition  and  feeling  of  God  towards  man- 
kind, and  declare  in  the  most  intelligent  and  impressive 
manner,  that  God  had  not  only  given  men  their  existence, 
but  that  he  stood  in  the  relation  to  them  of  an  educator 
and  benefactor,  loved  them,  took  care  of  them,  and  was 
seeking  to  conform  them  to  his  image  and  make  them 
eternally  happy,  Matt.  5:44 — 49.  6:  9—13,  25—33,  and 

mer,  II.  I.  544.  III.  276.  365,  &c.,  Jupiter  is  almost  always  called 
"  the  father  of  gods  and  men,"  and  Plato  substitutes  the  word  king 
in  its  stead,  Epist.  II.  p.  69.  [Tom.  XI.,]  with  which  compare  Calli- 
machus,  in  lev,  v.  7.  and  94.  With  respect  to  the  last  passage,  Span- 
heim  is  also  to  be  consulted.  The  Romans  imitated  this,  and  not 
only  called  the  supreme  God,  father,  wid.  Horace,  Odar.  1.  I.,  od.  2. 
V.  2,  and  Virgil,  Georg,  1.  I.  283,  but  made  this  the  common  appel- 
lation of  every  other  divinity,  in  doing  which  they  were  influenced 
by  reverence.  Vid.  Serv.  on  Virg.  Geo.  1. 11,4.  From  this  appellation, 
Lanctantius,  Insti.  Divinar.  1.  IV.  c.  3,  draws  conclusions  in  opposi- 
tion to  Polytheism,  and  the  illustrations  which  he  gives  in  this  re- 
spect, deserve  to  be  examined  by  every  one,  who  would  obtain  a 
right  apprehension  of  the  meaning  that  the  ancients  attached  to  the 
word  father,  when  applied  to  Deity.  [Garve,  indeed,  in  his  Ver- 
mischte  Aufsatze,  II.  342  ff.,  has  expressed  a  doubt  whether  the  idea 
of  God  as  a  father  of  mankind,  was  first  promulgated  by  Christiani- 
ty, but  without  bringing  forward  any  definite  testimony  to  the  con- 
trary. If  we  pass  over  the  word,  however,  and  treat  merely  of  the 
idea  itself,  Christianity  will  unquestionably  appear  to  deserve  the 
credit  of  having  revealed  God  as  a  father,  in  a  sense,  in  which  he 
was  neither  known  to  the  h«athen  world  nor  to  the  Old  Testament. 
Among  the  ancient  poets,  we  discover  no  intimations  of  a  deep  moral 
element  in  this  appellation,  and  even  in  the  writings  of  the  philoso- 
phers, who  made  the  nearest  approach  in  this  respect  to  the  Christian 
notion,  as  Plutarch,  for  instance,  Vita  Alexandri,  c.  27.  0pp.  ed. 
Reisk.  IV.  67  ;  De  Superstit.,  VI.  639,  we  search  in  vain  for  a  com- 
plete developement  of  it.  In  other  places  on  the  other  hand,  the 
word  occurs  in  a  merely  physical  sense,  as  in  Plutarch's  Apoph- 
thegm. 0pp.  VI.  686.,  and  also  Arrian's  Dissert.  Epictet.  ed. 
Schweighaeus.  I.  3,  9,  &c.  And  though  Niemeyer  in  his  Briefe  an 
christl.  Relig.  Lehrer,  Saml.  2.  S.  63  fF.  (Iste  Ausg.)  asserts  that  the 
Christian  idea  attached  to  the  word  is  clearly  to  be  met  with  in  the 
Old  Testament,  yet  it  cannot  be  proved.  There  God  is  not  merely 
called  the  father  of  the  Israelitish  nation,  but  called  so  expressly  as 
the  deliverer  of  this  nation,  and  the  founder  of  its  politico-religious 
constitution.  In  the  New  Testament,  on  the  other  hand,  God  is  rep- 
resented as  a  father,  who  gives  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him, 
Luke  11:  13.  comp.  Rom.  8:  14.  Heb.  12:  7  seqq.  As  this  Spirit 
was  not  poured  out  until  the  gospel  began  to  exert  its  influence,  so 
the  complete  sense  of  the  paternal  name  of  God  was  not  made  mani- 
fest until  then.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  45 

that  they  must  strive  to  become  his  children,  by  imitating 
him  in  holiness  and  perfection,  Matt.  6;  19,  45.  John  1: 
12. 

§21.  By  the  representation  which  Jesus  in  this  way 
gave  of  the  doctrine  of  one  only  and  supreme  God — 
a  representation  which  was  peculiar  to  him,  and  which 
with  a  striking  uniformity  pervades  all  his  discourses,  very 
important  objects  were  to  he  accomplished.  He  intended 
to  exhibit  it  with  such  clearness  and  simplicity  that  those  of 
the  weakest  capacities,  even  children,  might  comprehend  it. 
Instead  therefore  of  remaining  a  subject  of  fruitless  spec- 
ulation, a  problem  for  the  examination  of  reason,  it  was  to 
be  made  an  animating  and  efficient  truth,  exerting  a  prac- 
tical influence  upon  the  heart  and  life.  The  touching 
representation  which  Jesus  gave  of  God  by  calling  him 
father,  was  at  the  same  time  to  do  away  those  frightful 
images  under  which  both  Jews  and  gentiles  had  contem- 
plated the  Deity,  and  substitute  a  childlike  confidence,  a 
heartfelt  love,  instead  of  that  slavish  mortification  and  the 
service  extorted  by  fear,  which  had  usually  been  thought 
necessary  for  appeasing  him  and  retaining  his  favor.  In 
particular,  the  priests,  those  promoters  and  protectors  of 
superstition,  who  had  hitherto  claimed  for  themselves  the 
authority  of  an  indispensable  mediatorship  between  God 
and  man,  and  thus  rendered  themselves  of  very  great  im- 
portance, were  to  he  deprived  of  their  influence  forever  ; 
for  he,  who  knows  God  to  be  a  condescending  and  affec- 
tionate father,  can  apply  to  him  directly,  and  needs  not  a 
prior  introduction  from  such  mediators  and  confidents. 

As  a  necessary  result  of  the  views,*  which  Jesus  thus 
inculcated  upon  the  people  respecting  God,  he  required 
them  to  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  John  4:  23,  and 
made  true  religion  to  consist  purely  in  efforts  to  become 
like  him.  Matt.  6:  48,  and  obedience  to  the  moral  law, 
Matt.  7:  21 — 23.  Here  then  all  sacrificial  services  fell  at 
once  to  the  ground,  for  the  supreme  Father  of  all  neither 
needs  nor  requires  any  such  presents  of  his  children.     All 

*  [For  similar  remarks,  vid.  Niemeyer,  Briefe  anchrist.  Religion- 
lehrer,  Saml.  1.  Brief  9.  S.  85  ff.] 


46 

the  other  Exercises,  ceremonies,  and  regulations,  to  which 
in  every  religion  so  much  importance  had  been  attached, 
were  in  like  manner  deprived  of  their  value.  Ceremo- 
nies could  neither  be  retained  nor  tolerated,  any  farther 
than  they  might  serve  as  the  means  of  advancing  true 
morality,  Mark  7:  5—23.  Matth.  6:  1—18.  For  the 
same  reason,  the  worship  of  God  could  no  longer  be  con- 
fined to  any  particular  place.  The  Father  of  all  is  not 
partial  to  single  regions  or  particular  classes  of  men.  All 
the  world  therefore  was  to  become  his  temple,  and  the 
whole  human  race  his  family,  John  4:  20 — 24.  Matth.  5: 
43 — 48.  And  finally,  all  those  distinctions  were  to  ceas"e 
which  had  originated  in  numberless  forms  of  superstition 
and  idolatry,  and  filled  the  nations  of  the  eardi  with  aver- 
sion to  each  other,  and  often  with  mutual  hatred  and  con- 
tempt, John  10:  16. 

§  22.  Of  especial  importance,  however,  were  the  re- 
sults, which  Jesus  deduced  from  the  fundamental  repre- 
sentation that  God  is  the  Father  of  men,  in  order  to  show 
the  relations  existing  between  him  and  his  rational  crea- 
tures. A  father  possessed  of  genuine  paternal  affections, 
naturally  exercises  a  very  tender  care  over  his  children  ; — 
a  care  which  extends  to  all  the  wants,  circumstances,  and 
events  of  their  lives.  Jesus  exhibited  God  as  exercising 
a  similar  care  over  mankind.  The  notions  that  he  incul- 
cated upon  this  subject,  were,  that  without  the  will  of  God, 
not  a  sparrow,  as  it  is  expressed,  not  a  hair  of  our  head, 
can  fall  to  the  ground,  Matt.  10:29—32;  that  God 
never  ceases  to  exert  the  most  effectual  influence  in  all  the 
occurrences  of  life,  John  5:  17  ;  to  do  good  to  every  thing 
that  exists,  and  hold  man  as  an  object  of  his  attention  in 
particular  esteem,  Matt.  6:  24 — 34.  5:  45.  The  view 
which  Jesus  in  this  way  gave  of  the  superintending  care 
of  God,  together  with  the  childlike  confidence  which  he 
sought  to  instil  into  men  towards  their  heavenly  Father, 
left  no  rpom  for  those  doubts,  so  common  in  the  schools 
of  the  philosophers,  respecting  the  reality,  universality, 
and  beneficence  of  a  divine  Providence,  or  those  cheerless 
representations,  so  prevalent  among  the  great  mass  of  nn- 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  47 

educated  people,  respecting  the  power  of  a  blind  fortune, 
an  irregular  chance,  and  a  severe  and   inexorable  fate, 
which  sometimes  rendered  them  negligent,  at  others  filled 
them  with  presumption  or  despair. — Fathers  are  very  for- 
bearing towards  the  fauhs  of  their  children,  and  ready  to 
forgive  them  as  soon  as  they  discover  signs  of  reformation* 
Jesus  gave  a  most  exalted  description  of  the  love  of  the 
supreme  Father  in  this  respect,  his  reconcileableness  and 
willingness  to  forgive  sin,   and  the  anticipating  kindness 
with  which  he  meets  all  who  repent  and  amend,  Luke  15: 
1—32.  Matt.  18:  21—35.  John  3:  16,  17.     Of  course, 
this  took  away  all  need  of  expiatory  sacrifices,  solemn  pu- 
rifications, painful  courses  of  penance,  and  the  various 
means  which  had  thus  far  been  resorted  to,  for  appeasing 
the  incensed  Deity,  and  averting  the  punishment  of  sin, 
and  exhibited  them  in  the  light  of  base  superstitions. — Fi- 
nally, nothing  is  dearer  to  fathers  than  the  life  and  preser- 
vation of  their  children.     The  supreme  Father  can  pre- 
serve forever,  and  confer  immortality.     Jesus  therefore 
spoke  with  greater  energy,  confidence,  and  expression  of 
the  immortality  and  boundless  duration  of  the  soul,  than 
any  one  had  ever  done  before  him.     He  every  where  in- 
timated that  he  himself  stood  in  a  close   and   perpetual 
connexion  with  a  higher  world,  an  invisible  order  of  things, 
John  1:  52.  3:  13.  6:  51.  8:  23,   and   hence  that  to  him 
death  was  nothing  more  than  a  return  to  this  better,  this 
more  exalted  sphere,  John   16:  28.     At  the  same  time 
he  asserted  that  all  men  were  destined  to  this  kingdom  of 
immortality,  and  that  it  was  his  business  to  conduct  them 
thither,  Matth.  6:  19— 21.    10:28.    25:21—46.    Luke 
16:  19—31.  John  3:  16.    5:  24.    10:  27—30.    14:  2,  3. 
17:  24.     Hence  he  never  undertook  to  prove  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul.     Instead  of  doing  so,  he  spoke  of 
it  as  something  which  could  not  be  a  matter  of  doubt. 
He  spoke  of  it  as  a  citizen  of  this  kingdom  of  immortal- 
ity, and  one  acquainted  with  it  from  actual  experience. 
His  discourses  always  breathed  the  spirit  and  power  of  a 
better  world,  excited   deep  feelings  in  all  who  approached 
him,  and  filled  them  with  overpowering  convictions  of  a 


48  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

never  ending  state  of  existence.  Hence  nothing  like 
doubts,  respecting  a  future  state,  or  that  firm  denial  of  it, 
so  common  to  the  age  in  which  he  hved,  was  ever  to  be 
met  with  among  his  followers.  He  who  became  a  mem- 
ber of  his  church  and  felt  the  influence  of  his  gospel,  had 
a  sense  of  immortality  too  vivid,  and  felt  himself  brought 
into  a  relation  to  heaven  too  close,  ever  to  admit  of  his 
faith's  being  shaken,  Phil.  3:  20,  21.  It  was  Christ's  in- 
tention, therefore,  to  destroy  idolatry  with  all  its  abomina- 
tions ;  to  irradiate  the  night  of  profound  ignorance  that 
prevailed  ;  to  collect  together  and  bring  to  light  the  truth 
found  here  and  there  in  philosophical  lecture  rooms,  or 
wrapt  up  in  mysteries,  and  by  exhibiting  it  in  the  clearest 
and  most  intelligible  manner,  and  conveying  it  to  the  cot- 
tages of  the  ignorant  and  the  low,  to  effect  the  greatest 
and  most  benevolent  change  that  ever  took  place  in  the 
convictions  of  the  human  family. 


Morality. 


§  23.  Jesus  however  intended  to  operate  with  no  less 
energy  and  impression  upon  the  dispositions,  feelings,  and 
moral  habits  of  mankind.  Morality  needed  his  aid  as 
much  as  religion.  Its  character  among  the  Jews  at  that 
time  was  extremely  bad.*  The  Pharisees  had  transform- 
ed it  into  a  subtle  casuistry  about  religious  ceremonies, 
and  made  it  a  patroness  of  the  most  pernicious  hypocrisy. 
The  Sadducees  had  reduced  it  to  a  lax  system  of  pruden- 
tial maxims  for  the  use  of  frivolous  and  selfish  sensualists, 
and  the  Essenes,  to  a  gloomy  asceticism,  fit  only  for  mel- 
ancholy anchorites  and  pious  enthusiasts.  They  all  aban- 
doned the  common  people  to  their  uncurbed  desires,  and 
felt  satisfied  with  themselves  if  they  sacrificed  diligently, 
observed  the  statutes  of  the  fathers,  and  treated  the 
heathen  with  bitter  hatred  and  proud  contempt.     The  sa- 

*  [Staudlin,  Gesch.  d.  Sittenlehre  Jesu,  I.  419  fF.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  49 

cred  writings  of  the  nation,  indeed,  contained  great  treas- 
ures of  moral  instruction,  but  they  were  as  useless  as  if 
they  had  never  been  in  existence.  Immorality  pervaded 
all  ranks,  broke  up  the  relations  of  society,  spread  univer- 
sal disorder,  and  had  occasioned  that  decline  of  the  Jew- 
ish state,  which  ended  in  the  most  fearful  destruction. 

The  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome  had  devoted  a 
great  part  of  their  efforts  to  the  improvement  of  morality, 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  had  accomplished  much 
and  said  many  sagacious  and  excellent  things.     The  mo- 
rality of  the  heathen  world,  however,  was  very  defective. 
Apart  from  the  fact,  that  usually  it  either  favored  selfish 
principles,  and  constituted  merely  a  system  of  rules  for  the 
gratification  of  the  senses,  or  required  an  extravagant  self- 
denial  and  greatness,  which  rendered  man  a  proud  and 
gloomy  being  and  divested  him  of  every  thing  like  sym- 
pathy and  kindness,  it  exerted  no  influence  upon  the  great 
mass  of  common  people,  and  had  no  one  to  procure  for 
it  such  an  influence.     Its  guardians  satisfied  themselves 
with  disputing  in  their  schools   respecting  what  ought  to 
constitute  its  fundamental  principles,  and  left  the  people 
to  their  fate.     It  is  worthy  of  particular  remark,  there- 
fore, that  the  morality  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  had  lit- 
tle or  no  connexion  with  religion,  and  hence  was  abso- 
lutely destitute  of  that  effective  character  and  simplicity 
without  which  it  cannot  prove  of  any  avail  to  the  multitude. 
Among  the  other  nations  of  the  earth,  morality  derived  its 
chief  support  from  inherited  customs,  paternal  ceremo- 
nies, and  single  maxims,  often  not  more  than  half  true  ; 
and  even  this,  though  always  weak,   was  rendered  still 
more  insecure  by  the  prevalence  of  superstition.     These 
circumstances  render  it  easy  for  us  to  perceive  the  force  of 
the  loud  and  unanimous  complaints  made  by  all  the  writers 
of  those  times,*  respecting  the  universal,  fearful,  and  al- 

*  [Testimonies  to  this  ejEFect  are  to  be  found  collected  together  in 
interpreters  upon  Rom.  1:  24  seqq.,  particularly  in  Cornelius  Ada- 
mus,  Exercitatt.  Excgeticae,  nr.  5,  de  raalis  Romanorum  moribus 
ante  praedicationem  evanorelii ;  Meiner,  Geschichte  des  Verfalls 
der  Sitten  der  Romer,  L.  1782 ;  Dess.  Gesch.  des  Verfalls  der  Sit- 
5 


50 

most  incurable  corruption  of  morals.  To  remove  this 
corruption  from  the  very  foundation,  it  was  necessary  to 
procure  for  morality  a  transforming  influence,  extensive, 
effectual,  and  almost  directly  opposite  to  what  it  had  hith- 
erto had ;  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  to  purify  it,  unite  it 
with  religion,  and  give  it  a  perspicuity  and  power,  which 
should  render  it  intelligible  and  impressive  to  all  mankind 
without  exception.  Now  by  examining  the  spirit  and 
regulations,  which,  according  to  the  testimony  of  history, 
morality  received  from  Jesus,  we  shall  be  able  to  ascertain 
whether  they  furnished  a  remedy  for  these  imperfections. 
§  24.  The  religion  which  Jesus  intended  to  spread 
throughout  the  world,  was  a  living  faith  in  God.  This 
God  he  called  the  Father  of  mankind,  whom  he  repre- 
sented as  his  children,  and  consequently  as  brethren  ;  ob- 
jects of  his  love  and  care,  in  a  course  of  education  for  a 
better  life,  and  destined  to  an  eternal  state  of  existence. 
It  was  natural  that  the  morality  of  a  person  capable  of  giv- 
ing such  views  respecting  God,  and  our  relations  to  him 
and  each  other,  should  resolve  itself  into  a  love  to  God 
and  all  his  rational  creatures.  It  did  so  in  reality.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  Jesus  reduced  the  whole  system 
of  morality,  by  which  he  intended  to  reform  the  world, 
to  a  grateful  love  to  God,  and  a  fraternal  love  to  man. 
More  than  once  he  declares  the  commandment  which  en- 
joins such  a  love  to  be  the  principal  one  in  the  moral  law, 
and  to  comprehend  all  the  rest.  Matt.  22:  35 — 40.  Mark  12: 
28 — 31.  Luke  10:  25 — 29.  Hence  he  goes  so  far  as  to 
make  this  love  the  only  sure  test  of  his  followers,  John 
13:  34,  35,  12 — 17.  Every  thing  that  he  teaches  re- 
specting the  disposition  and  feeling  of  God  towards  his 
rational  creatures,  is  adapted  to  awaken  and  cherish  an  in- 
ternal and  grateful  love  in  their  breasts  towards  him.  Matt. 
6:49.  6:25—33.  7:7—11.  John  3:  16,  17,  10:17,18, 
&c.     The  duty  of  loving  all  mankind  is  exhibited  in  so 

ten,  der  Wissensch.  u.  s.  w.  in  den  ersten  Jahrhunderten  nach 
Christi  Geburt,  Wien,  1791  ;  Nachtrflge  zu  Sulzer  von  Manso  u. 
A.,  IV.  443  fF.  VI.  81  ff.  294  ff ;  Scheibel,  Beytrage  zur  Kenntniss 
der  alten  Welt,  II.  1—110.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  61 

clear  and  perspicuous  a  manner,  in  the  exalted  and  touch- 
ing representations,  which  he  has  given  of  the  worth  and 
dignity  of  human  nature,  as  to  force  itself  upon  those 
who  are  most  unaccustomed  to  think,  Matt.  18:  10,  11. 
John  3:  16,  17.  Luke  10:25—37.  Matt.  25:  31— 46. 
He  required  a  practical  exhibition  of  this  love  in  such 
strong  terms,  expressed  himself  upon  the  subject  so  fre- 
quently and  so  clearly,  and  illustrated,  animated,  and  con- 
firmed what  he  said  upon  the  subject  in  so  impressive  and 
touching  a  manner  by  his  own  example,  that  in  the  end 
his  apostles  also  unanimously  agreed  in  preaching  this 
love,  and  called  it  the  royal  commandment,  the  fulfilling 
of  the  whole  moral  law,  the  summary  of  all  true  perfec- 
tion, the  highest  point  of  greatness  to  which  a  man  can 
attain,  and  something  which  will  put  him  in  possession  of 
an  eternal  excellence,  1  John  2:  6 — 11.  3:  10 — 18.  4: 
7—21.  5:  1—3.  1  Pet.  3:  8,  9.  Rom.  13:  8,  10.  Gal. 
5:  17.  Col.  3:  14.  1  Tim.  1:  5.  1  Cor.  13  to  the  end. 
James  2:  8. 

§  25.  Jesus  has  not  left  what  he  meant  by  this  love  un- 
explained. His  own  love  to  God  was  the  most  punctual 
obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  He  evinced  it  by  doing  his 
Father's  commandments,  and  voluntarily  giving  himself 
up  to  a  most  ignominious  execution,  for  the  purpose  of 
fulfilling  the  divine  commission  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Father,  John  4:  34.  10:  15—18.  14:  31. 
When  therefore  Jesus  represented  love  to  God  as  the 
principal  commandment  in  the  whole  system  of  morality, 
he  did  not  by  any  means  speak  merely  of  a  play  of  de- 
vout feelings  and  pious  emotions,  nor  of  an  enthusiastic 
mortification  of  one's  self,  and  vain  efforts  after  a  union 
with  God,  a  perfect  coalescence  with  the  being  of  God  ; 
the  love  which  he  had  in  view,  and  declared  to  be  the  sub- 
stance of  all  morality,  was  a  voluntary  obedience  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  a  faithful  observance  of  all  his  com- 
mandments. Hence  he  recognises  that  man  only  as  a 
worthy  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  Matt.  7:21, 
who  does  the  will  of  the  Father  in  heaven,  without  which 
obedience  he  positively  assures  us,  that  the  most  zealous 


52 

exhibition  of  religion  is  of  no  manner  of  value,  Matt.  7:  22, 
23.  *  He  who  loves  me,'  says  Jesus,  '  loves  the  Father 
also,  for  I  am  his  messenger,'  John  14:  9.  He  Ynakes 
love  to  himself,  however,  to  consist  solely  in  keeping  his 
commandments,  which  he  represents  as  none  other  than  the 
sacred  commandments  of  God  and  duty,  John  14:  15,21, 
23,  24,  and  in  order  to  give  a  still  more  intelligible  view 
of  what"  he  calls  love  to  God,  he  requires  men  to  ex- 
hibit the  dispositions  and  feelings  of  children,  towards 
God  in  their  actions.  Matt.  5:  45.  This  however  can 
mean  nothing  else  than  that  they  are  to  go  to  the  extent 
of  their  ability  in  attending  to  the  will  of  their  heavenly 
Father,  rendering  themselves  at  all  times  worthy  of  his 
approbation,  regulating  their  conduct  by  his  example,  and 
striving  to  be  equally  perfect.  Matt.  5:  44 — 48.  Luke  6: 
27—36 ;  for,  says  the  favorite  apostle,  and  of  course  the 
one  likely  to  have  the  best  apprehension  of  his  Master's 
meaning,  "  This  is  the  love  of  God,  that  we  keep 
his  commandments,"  1  John  5:  3.  To  love  God  then, 
agreeably  to  the  very  definite  explanations  which  Jesus 
himself  has  given  of  the  subject,  is  to  yield  a  perfectly 
willing,  pure,  and  punctual  obedience  to  his  holy  and 
benevolent  will,  as  exhibited  in  the  different  laws  of  mo- 
rality ;  and  a  man  proves  that  he  possesses  love  to  God, 
when  he  strives  to  become  perfect  and  holy  like  God.* 

*  [The  foregoing  observations  will  furnish  a  sufficient  refutation 
of  the  objections  which  have  been  raised  respecting  the  doctrine  of 
love  in  God  and  love  to  God,  in  the  work,  "God  is  the  purest  love," 
Benvenuto's  Zweifel  vor  dem  Tribunale  der  hohern  Religionskri- 
tik  niedergelegt  von  Rohling,  S.  77  ff.,  Frankf.  a.  M.  1803,  in  which, 
S.  42  ff.,  the  author  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  John  accommodated 
himself  to  the  religion  founded  in  love  after  the  manner  of  the 
Greeks,  fdass  Johannes  sich  zur  graecissirenden  Liebes-Religion  be- 
quemt  habe  !)  [Does  the  author  refer  to  Platonic  love,  the  principles 
of  which  were  adopted  by  the  Mystic  sects,  and  early  introduced  in- 
to Christianity?  Vid.  Neander,  Kirch.  Geschichte,  I.  1.  S.  31  seqq., 
60  seqq.,  and  various  works  referred  to  by  Reinhard,  System  der 
christl.  Moral,  B.  11.  §  180,  An.  a.  Rohling  is  not  at  hand.     Tr.] 

[The  expression  "  God  is  love,"  1  John  4:  10,  is  probably  derived 
from  that  of  Christ,  John  3:  16,  as  its  source.  That  love  can  never 
be  exacted  by  command,  S.  119  ff.,  might  be  considered  as  a  valid  ob- 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  53 

Hence  also  it  follows,  that  the  love  to  one's  neighbour  or 
fellow  creature,  which  Jesus  connected  with  love  to  God, 
and  made  of  equal  importance.  Matt.  22:  37 — 39,  cannot 
be  a  mere  trifling  with  philanthropical  emotions  or  an  idle 
exhibition  of  kindness,  but  must  consist  in  an  activity 
which  springs  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  aims  at  public  utili- 
ty with  an  ardor  that  readily  submits  to  personal  sacrifices; 
— an  activity,  founded  upon  a  lively  regard  for  the  worth 
and  dignity  of  human  nature,  and  a  steadfast  respect  for 
God  and  his  will.  Such  was  the  character  of  the  philan- 
thropy which  Jesus  himself  exhibited,  John  10:  11 — 18. 
Such  a  sympathizing  spirit  of  activity,  making,  as  it  does, 
a  man  feel  as  great  a  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  otiiors, 
as  for  his  own,  and  leading  him  to  do  to  others  as  he 
would  that  they  should  do  to  him,  constitutes,  as  Christ 
expresses  it,  the  essence  of  all  that  is  contained  in  the 
Scriptures,  Matt.  7:  12.  It  requires  a  man  therefore  to 
imitate  God  in  the  disinterestedness  and  extent  of  his  be- 
nevolence as  far  as  opportunity  presents,  and  prohibits 
him  entirely  from  neglecting  those  hostile  to  him  and  the 
vicious,  in  his  efforts  to  do  good.  Matt.  5:  43 — 48.*     He 

jection  to  it,  did  not  the  law  of  God,  as  exhibited  in  the  gospel,  ex- 
cite and  strengthen  a  corresponding  love  in  man,  and  irapart  to  him 
a  spirit  which  transforms  the  obligation  of  duty  into  the  pleasure  of 
the  will.  For  the  same  reason,  Christ's  command  respecting  love, 
connot  be  confined  to  a  mere  cold  esteem  for  morality  according  to 
Kant,  Grundlegung  zur  Metaphys.  der  Sitten,  S.  13;  Kritik  der 
pract.  Vernunft,  S.  144  ff.  Religion  innerhalb  der  Grenzen  d.  bl. 
Vern.,  S.  242.  2e  A.  Comp.  Reinh.  Syst.  d.  Moral,  B.  II.  §173seqq.] 
*  [That  the  command  to  love  enemies,  as  regards  its  compass,  and 
pure,  religious  spirit,  was  first  made  known  by  Christianity,  is  evi- 
dent from  comparing  it  with  the  doctrines  of  the  old  philosophers. 
Vid.  HUpeden,  Commentatio,  qua  comparatur  doctrina  de  amore  in- 
imicorum  Christiana  cum  ea,  quae  in  V.  T.  et  in  philosophor.  Grae- 
cor.  ac  Romanor.  scriptis  traditur,  Gottin.1817  ;  Meyer,  Doctrina  Sto- 
icor.  ethica  cum  Christiana  comparat.  p.  88 — 99,  Gott.  1823.  "  We 
may  boldly  challenge  the  most  thoroughly  read  investigator  of  anti- 
quity to  point  out  a  single  passage  in  all  its  writings,  in  which  this 
duty  is  explained  and  recommended  in  so  clear,  impressive,  appro- 
priate, and  fine  a  manner.  One  needs  but  a  slight  acquaintance  with 
the  spirit  of  Grecian  and  Roman  antiquity,  even  when  the  most  cul- 
tivated and  refined,  to  be  able  to  infer  a  priori  thnt  it  could  never 
produce  any  such  fruit."  Krug,  Briefe  Uber  die  Perfectibilitat  der 
geoifenb.  Religion,  S.  340  ff.] 


54 

is  always  to  hold  human  nature  in  esteem,  however  low 
the  grade  in  which  he  finds  it,  Matt.  18:  5,  10, 11.  10:  42, 
and,  without  regard  to  personal  danger,  be  ready  to  as- 
sist all  that  stand  in  need  of  assistance,  Luke  10:25 — 37; 
or,  according  to  John's  explanation  of  his  master's  will,  a 
man  is  not  to  love  in  word  and  tongue,  but  in  deed  and  in 
truth,  1  John  3:  1 8,  and  be  ready  to  lay  down  his  life  for 
the  brethren  whenever  it  is  necessary,  1  John  3:  16.  The 
position  :  "  Think,  feel  and  act  in  such  a  manner  as  al- 
ways to  resemble  God,  the  great  archetype  of  all  perfec- 
tion, the  supreme  benefactor,  and  consider  thy  fellow 
creatures  as  thy  brethren,  and  be  ever  upon  the  alert  to  do 
good,"  is  the  chief  commandment,  the  one  to  which 
Christ  has  reduced  every  thing,  and  which  he  has  laid  at 
the  very  foundation  of  his  system  of  morality. 

§  26.  The  more  we  think  of  the  character  which  was 
in  this  way  imparted  to  morality,  the  more  we  shall  be  con- 
vinced that  it  was  an  entirely  new  one,  though  such  as 
it  must  ever  have,  in  order  to  be  adapted  to  our  nature,  and 
exert  a  salutary  influence.  In  the  first  place,  the  general 
principle  of  love  to  God  and  man  brought  it  into  a  relation 
to  religion  which  it  had  never  before  sustained,  and  yet  the 
only  true  and  correct  one.  Before  the  time  of  Christ,  re- 
ligion and  morality  were  separated  ;  for  the  heathen  had  a 
morality,  without  religion,  and  the  Jews  a  religion  without 
morality,  and  hence  the  morality  of  the  heathen  was  cold 
and  powerless,  and  the  religion  of  the  Jews  as  well  as 
that  of  the  other  nations  of  that  age  of  the  world  a 
devout  pomposity  prejudicial  to  morality.  The  com- 
mandment which  enjoins  love,  was  employed  by  Jesus 
as  a  holy  bond  of  union  for  inseparably  and  forever 
combining  morality  and  religion  together;  for  he  who 
loves  God  and  man  is  pious  only  when  he  is  morally 
good,  and  he  is  never  morally  good  without  reference 
to  God,  whom  in  this  respect,  he  strives  to  resemble. 
In  his  manner  of  thinking  and  acting,  he  cannot  avoid 
keeping  before  his  eyes  the  supreme  lawgiver,  bene- 
factor and  father,  to  whom  he  is  indebted  for  all  things, 
and  of  course,  cannot  avoid  being  religious.  As  the 
laws  of  morality  are  written  on  his  heart,   neither  can 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  55 

he  avoid  keeping  them  also,  and  thereby  evincing,  that 
he  is  a  child  of  God,  and  of 'the  same  mind,  and  hence  he 
cannot  avoid  being  virtuous.  The  relation,  which  was  in 
this  way  established  between  morality  and  religion,  was  not 
a  subjection  of  one  to  the  other,  but  a  regular  combina- 
tion, a  fraternal  union  of  the  two.  Jesus  did  not  found 
morality  upon  religion.  He  suffered  it  to  rest  upon  its  own 
principles,  Matt.  7:12.  Neither  did  he  found  religion  upon 
morality,  for  when  he  inculcated  duties,  he  usually  com- 
menced with  religious  representations,  John  4:  24,  and  then 
proceeded  to  point  out  those  principles  of  religion  which  are 
not  moral,  MaU.  6:  26 — ^29,  John  3:  16;  but  he  taught 
the  two  in  connexion,  by  which  means,  he  remedied  the 
imperfections  peculiar  to  each,  so  long  as  they  were  sep- 
arated. It  was  only  necessary  for  one  to  love  God  and 
man  as  Jesus  did,  in  order  to  make  the  whole  system  of 
morality  religious,  and  the  whole  system  of  religion  moral, 
in  which  case,  the  former  has  an  author,  a  lawgiver,  and 
rewarder,  and  the  latter  becomes  the  friend  of  virtue,  the 
supporter  of  integrity,  and  the  dispenser  of  gentle  consola- 
tion in  all  the  calamities  of  life.  Jesus,  therefore,  by  making 
use  of  the  commandment  which  enjoins  love  to  God  and 
man,  and  thus  imparting  to  morality  a  new  character,  pro- 
vided a  remedy  for  one  of  its  chief  defects.  Hitherto  religion 
had  been  a  stranger  to  it,  and  too  often  injurious.  Now  an 
alliance  was  formed  between  them  which  proved  advan- 
tageous to  both. 

§  27.  For,  by  means  of  the  commandment  which  en- 
joins love,  Jesus  also  effected  the  purification  of  morality. 
Selfish  principles,  it  is  well  known,  prove  death  to  every 
thing  like  genuine  morality.  They  degrade  it,  make  it  sub- 
servient to  our  inclinations  and  lusts,  and  transform  it  into 
a  system  of  common  prudential  maxims.  It  was  the  lot 
of  morality  to  be  generally  thus  degraded  in  the  times  of 
Christ.  The  spirit  which  animated  it  among  the  Jews,  was 
an  exceedingly  base  desire  of  reward,  and  a  slavish  fear 
of  divine  punishment ;  and  more  than  one  philosophical 
school  among  the  heathen  looked  upon  morality  as  nothing 
more  than  the  art  of  perpetual  enjoyment,  and  as  far  as 
possible,  obtaining  possession  of  every  kind  of  pleasure  and 


56 

gratification.  By  laying  this  commandment,  therefore,  at 
the  foundation  of  his  system  of  morality,  Jesus  forever  de- 
livered it  from  the  spirit  of  selfishness  ;  for  he,  who  acts 
under  the  influence  of  love,  neither  fears  for  himself,  nor 
has  respect  to  personal  gain.  The  very  nature  of 
true  love  leads  him  to  disdain  all  such  considerations. 
He,  therefore,  who  loves  God,  is  not  influenced  in  his  ac- 
tions by  the  hope  of  a  reward.  What  he  does,  is  done 
solely  because  God  wills  it  and  approves  of  it.  Recog- 
nising God  also  as  his  father,  he  feels  no  anxiety  as  to  his 
own  happiness.  His  destiny  is  in  the  hands  of  one,  who 
knows  better  what  is  for  the  good  of  his  children  than  they 
themselves.  Matt.  6:  31,  32.  Nor  can  he  who  loves  man- 
kind, allow  himself  to  seek  after  his  own  profit  merely, 
for  true  philanthropy  is  noble,  self-denying,  magnanimous. 
Indeed,  ft  is  impossible  for  a  man,  who  loves  his  fellow 
creatures  as  brethren,  to  sepai-ate  his  interests  from  theirs  ; 
he  is  constrained  by  the  principle  itself,  to  make  their 
cause  his  own.  Finally,  it  is  impossible  for  him,  who 
loves  mankind  like  the  Father  of  all,  who  makes  his  sun 
to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good.  Matt.  5:  44 — 48,  and 
neither  needs  nor  expects  any  return  for  his  favors,  ever 
to  think  of  having  reference  to  a  reward  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  social  duties.  Love  to  God  and  man  unavoid- 
ably leads  one  to  perceive  that  every  thing  good  and  right 
has  an  internal  and  independent  value,  and  must  be  ap- 
proved of,  and  performed  without  any  respect  to  conse- 
quences ;  and  he,  who  possesses  it,  feels  himself  called 
upon  to  act  as  God  acts.  He  would  dishonor  himself, 
therefore,  and  offend  God,  should  he  allow  himself  to  be 
first  moved  to  the  performance  of  his  duty  by  the  hope  of 
his  own  gain. 

§  28.  By  means  of  the  general  principle  of  true  love  to 
God  and  man,  however,  Jesus  not  only  happily  rescued 
morality  from  the  degradation  to  which  selfishness  had 
subjected  it,  but  he  firmly  secured  it  against  that  fanati- 
cism, extravagance,  and  false  purity,  with  which  it  was  in- 
culcated, particularly  by  the  Essenes  among  the  Jews, 
and  by  the  Stoics  among  the  heathen.      He,  who  loves 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  57 

God  as  his  father,  has  no  need  on  that  account  of  becom- 
ing a  gloomy  self-tormentor,  and  foregoing  the  enjoyment 
of  the  good  presented  him  in  the  kingdom  of  nature. 
That  careful  abstemiousness  and  severity,  which  leads  one 
ever  to  afflict  himself,  and  suppress  the  innocent  instincts 
implanted  by  God  himself,  is  directly  opposed  to  the 
childlike  confidence,  and  firm  disposition  of  mind,  with 
which  a  father  must  be  honored,  who,  without  being  self- 
willed,  has  scattered  such  a  profusion  of  every  thing  that 
is  good,  beautiful,  and  calculated  to  impart  enjoyment. 
Hence  Jesus  himself  by  no  means  contemned  the  gratifi- 
cation of  the  senses.  Matt.  11:  18,  19  ;  and  in  his  use  of 
the  commandment  which  enjoins  love,  he  employed  the 
best  possible  means  for  opposing  the  extravagant  opinion, 
so  perceptibly  at  war  with  the  whole  construction  of  hu- 
man nature,  that  the  holiness  of  morality  demands  a  de- 
gree of  strength  and  equanimity  which  is  incapable  of  be- 
ing moved  by  advantage,  or  softened  by  sympathy,  and, 
with  a  like  indifference  to  pleasure  and  pain  and  disdain 
of  reward,  makes  happiness  consist  in  virtue  alone.  This 
love  is  not  a  cold  esteem,  an  affair  of  scrutinizing  reason 
merely,  an  insolent  and  selfish  pride ;  but,  in  its  very  na- 
ture, being  connected  with  feelings  of  pleasure,  confi- 
dence, gratitude,  sympathy,  and  hope,  it  fills  the  heart 
with  a  sincerity,  warmth,  and  zeal,  which  put  all  its  pow- 
ers into  operation,  and  impart  to  them  such  an  impulse 
as  they  must  ever  have  in  limited  beings  like  ourselves, 
in  order  to  be  wrought  up  to  the  performance  of  any 
thing  great.  Finally,  this  love  is  never  satisfied  with 
confining  its  attention  to  itself,  but  it  always  seeks  for  ob- 
jects of  kindness  in  the  external  world,  and,  associating 
with  them,  endeavors  to  do  them  good.  He,  there- 
fore, who  possesses  genuine  love  to  God  and  man,  does 
indeed  with  inviolable  fidelity  pursue  that  course,  which 
his  reason  pronounces  good,  just,  and  pleasing  to  God, 
and  which  brings  even  his  most  beloved  inclinations 
in  subjection  to  the  commands  of  duty  ;  but  with  all  his 
caution,  severity,  and  self-control  in  this  respect,  he  is  a 
man  of  feeling,  full  of  cordial  sympathy,  susceptible  of  ev- 


58 

ery  noble  joy,  and  by  no  means  indifferent  to  the  condi- 
tion of  others.  He  knows  that  virtue  is  not  the  same 
thing  as  happiness,  the  virtuous  often  being  entirely  desti- 
tute of  enjoyment ;  and  that,  as  this  depends  in  part  upon 
circumstances  beyond  human  control,  he  will  in  very 
many  cases  be  unable  to  obtain  it.  In  attending  to  the 
performance  of  his  duties,  therefore,  he  is  by  no  means 
insensible  to  his  own  welfare,  but  feeling  himself  under 
the  government  of  a  Father  who  loves  him,  and  can  and 
will  bestow  upon  him  as  many  favors  as  he  needs  or  is 
able  to  receive,  he  is  altogether  unconcerned  about  it.  By 
means  of  the  commandment,  therefore,  which  enjoins 
love,  morality  was  humanized  without  losing  its  sanctity, 
brought  down  without  being  degraded,  and  adapted  to  the 
sensitive  part  of  our  nature  without  being  defiled,  and  in 
this  way  it  was  rendered  the  means  of  uniting  the  rational 
part  of  our  nature  and  the  sensitive  together,  ennobling  the 
whole  man,  and  preparing  us  for  heaven  without  unfitting 
us  for  our  earthly  relations. 

§  29.  It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  remark,  that  in  this 
way  morality  obtained  a  clearness  and  perspicuity  which 
it  had  never  before  possessed.  Indeed  nothing  is  more 
practical  or  intelligible,  or  richer  in  valuable  results,  than 
the  commandment  which  enjoins  love.  The  most  unskil- 
ful person  can  ascertain  from  his  own  feelings,  what  is  con- 
sistent or  inconsistent  with  love  to  others.  He  has  only  to 
put  himself  in  their  situation,  and  ask  what,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, would  be  agreeable  to  himself.  Matt.  7:  12,  in 
order  at  once  to  clear  up  the  darkest  question  ;  and  that 
man  who  contemplates  God  as  Jesus  has  taught  us  to  do, 
— as  the  wisest,  holiest,  and  best  of  fathers,  aiming  at  the 
welfare  and  improvement  of  all  men,  and  acquainted  with 
the  most  secret  exercises  of  the  heart, — as  judging  every 
thought  and  action.  Matt.  6:  6,  and  ever  present  and  ac- 
tive in  regulating  and  governing  all  things,  that  man 
will  soon  ascertain  from  his  own  conscience,  what  he  must 
do  in  order  to  please  God  ;  and,  in  doubtful  cases,  under 
the  influence  of  love  to  Him,  always  take  the  safest  side, 
©r  that,  by  which  bis  own  passions  and  inclinations  will 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN*  &9 

gain  the  least.  By  reducing  the  whole  system  of  n:)oral- 
ity,  therefore,  to  love  to  God  and  man,  Jesus  did  not  pro- 
vide merely  for  the  wants  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived  5 
for  as  certain  as  it  is,  that  no  better  way  could  have  been 
invented  for  delivering  morality  from  the  corruptions  with 
which  it  was  then  disfigured,  so  certain  is  it,  that  morality 
must  always  remain  what  Jesus  made  it,  in  order  to 
be  secured  against  laxity  and  extravagance,  and  retain- 
ed with  perfect  holiness  and  purity  in  its  practical  and 
humanized  character.  If  it  be  an  object  to  give  moral- 
ity a  scientific  form,  we  can  resolve  the  general  prin- 
ciple into  a  still  higher  one,  accurately  develop  the  ideas 
which  it  contains  and  define  them  with  all  the  strictness  re- 
quired by  the  most  systematic  connexion  ;  but  we  must 
not  abandon  it  if  we  would  avoid  falling  directly  into  an 
error  ;  for  by  changing  the  relation  created  between  moral- 
ity and  religion  by  the  principle  of  love,  and  subjecting  the 
one  to  the  other  instead  of  making  them  co-ordinate,  we 
rob  morality  of  its  independance  or  religion  of  its  requisite  ; 
and  by  rendering  morality  purer  than  the  principle  of  love 
requires  it  to  be,  we  fall  into  extravagancies,  and  obtain 
precepts  for  beings  entirely  different  from  ourselves. 

§  30.  It  was  Christ's  intention  therefore  to  quicken  and 
transform  all  his  rational  creatures,  and  fill  them  with  new 
moral  life,  by  imparting  to  them  the  spirit  of  true  love  to 
God  and  man.  Even  common  love  is  capable  of  effecting 
wonders.  It  makes  him  who  possesses  it  internally  to  a 
strong  degree,  as  it  were,  another  being,  gives  his  facul- 
ties a  lively  and  harmonious  play,  and  puts  every  spring  of 
existence  in  motion,  under  the  influence  of  which,  his  spir- 
it takes  a  higher  flight,  and  he  finds  himself  prepared  to 
perform  things,  and  overcome  difficulties,  from  which  he 
would  otherwise  have  shrunk  as  impossible.  In  a  far  high- 
er and  nobler  sense  ought  that  moral  and  religious  love 
with  which  Jesus  intended  to  quicken  all  men,  to  effect 
wonders.  It  ought  to  awaken,  animate,  and  direct  all  the 
powers  of  human  nature,  reduce  them  to  a  proper  relation 
to  each  other,  and  give  durability  and  energy  to  their  ex- 
ternal expressions.   It  ought  to  remove  every  obstacle,  and 


60 

all  aversion  to  the  performance  of  the  most  difficult  du- 
ties, and  lead  a  man  with  willingness  and  hearty  bold- 
ness, to  bring  the  sacrifices  which  he  owes  to  virtue,  as 
gifts,  and  joyfully  deposit  them  upon  her  altar.  It  ought 
to  produce  in  him  an  inspiration  in  favor  of  whatever  is 
good  without  enthusiasm,  an  exaltation  of  soul  without  ex- 
travagance, and  a  benevolent  warmth  of  heart  without 
wild-fire.  Finally,  it  ought  to  bring  together  the  different 
branches  of  the  human  family,  so  long  and  so  unhappily 
estranged  from  each  other,  reconcile  them  together,  and 
transform  them  into  one  firmly  united,  and  happy  family, 
devoted  to  the  service  of  God. 


Society. 


§  31.  This  is  that  very  part  of  the  character  of  the 
plan  in  which  Jesus  was  engaged,  which  now  remains  to  be 
considered.  In  order  to  create  mankind  anew,  and  radi- 
cally improve  their  condition,  it  was  necessary  for  Jesus  to 
honor  the  social  relations  with  his  attention,  and  exert  him- 
self to  stop  up  the  sources  of  immorality  and  misery  there- 
in concealed.  The  spirit  of  selfishness,  by  its  incessant 
activity,  and  the  pernicious  influence  which  it  exerted  over 
all,  had,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  been  the  sole 
cause  of  filling  society  with  disorder,  and  transforming  its 
bonds  of  unity,  as  far  as  a  great  portion  of  its  members 
were  concerned,  into  galling  chains.  Where  this  prevails, 
— where  men  act  without  regarding  the  dignity  of  human 
nature  and  acknowledging  the  rights  and  claims  of  others, 
treat  their  fellow  creatures  simply  as  the  means  of  advanc- 
ing their  own  interests,  and,  with  insatiable  eagerness,  ap- 
propriate every  thing  within  their  reach  to  themselves, 
there  all  justice  is  at  an  end ;  the  weak  submit  to  the 
strong,  power  and  fraud  decide,  and  slavery  and  oppres- 
sion are  inevitable.  This  was  the  hostile  demon  which 
governed  the  earth,  or  rather,  which  tormented  it  and  fill- 
ed it  with  desolation  at  the  time  of  Christ.     It  had  involv- 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  61 

ed  nations  in  continual  war  with  each  other,  and  by  a  long 
series  of  bloody  campaigns,  made  Rome  the  mistress  ot 
the  world.  This  demon  had  even  prescribed  to  most  na- 
tions their  laws,  as  well  as  fixed  their  manners,  customs, 
regulations,  and  habits,  and  rendered  the  grossest  forms  of 
injustice  as  it  were  sacred,  by  stamping  upon  them  the 
false  seal  of  rectitude  and  fairness.  Hence  the  numerous 
favored  ranks  to  be  met  with  in  almost  every  state  of  that 
age  ;  hence  all  the  horrors  of  slavery  and  bondage,  and  their 
degrading  effects  upon  the  morality  of  a  large,  portion  of 
mankind ;  hencethetyranny  of  the  male  sex  over  the  female, 
and  the  abuses  to  which  the  latter  were  almos^very  where 
obliged  to  submit ;  hence  the  want  of  the  doilHstic  virtues 
universally  manifest,  and  the  unrestrained  practice  of  infan- 
ticide ;  hence  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  priesthood, 
and  the  intolerant  and  even  persecuting  spirit  which  they 
evinced  as  soon  as  the  prevailing  superstition  was  attack- 
ed ;  hence  the  frequent  revolutions  and  civil  commotions, 
which  shook  now  this,  now  that  state,  and  seldom  passed 
away  without  bloodshed  ;  and  finally,  hence  the  preva- 
lence of  luxury  and  sensual  extravagancies,  which  had  ex- 
tended to  an  unheard  of  degree  among  the  cuhivated  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  particularly  among  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, and  which  were  daily  advancing.  In  short,  there 
was  no  social  relation  which  had  not  felt  the  pernicious 
influence  of  selfishness,  and  been  thrown  into  greater  or 
less  disorder,  by  means  of  odious  passions. 

§  32.  Tt  was  certainly  not  the  intention  of  Jesus  to 
meddle  with  political  aftairs  and  found  new  states.  In- 
deed, he  was  necessarily  restrained  from  interfering  in 
any  respect  with  the  laws,  regulations,  and  forms  of  civil 
society,  by  the  boundless  extent  of  his  plan ;  for  it  would 
have  been  neither  possible  nor  tiseful  to  force  the  same 
constitution  upon  all  men,  and  compress  them  into  one 
huge  political  body.  Hence  I  have  already  remarked, 
that  Jesus  kept  himself  very  far  from  every  thing  relating 
to  civil  legislation  or  the  business  of  the  state.  I  have 
shown  that- Jesus  took  great  pains  to  correct  the  gross  and 
sensual  views  which  his  countrymen  entertained  of  the 
6 


\ 


62 

kingdom  of  heaven  and  give  theni  right  apprehensions  of 
it  as  a  moral  kingdom  extending  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
this  life.  Finally,  I  have  shown,  and  will  soon  do  it  again 
more  in  detail,  that  Jesus  made  special  efforts  to  guard 
against  every  kind  of  political  commotion,  and  all  disor- 
derly movements  among  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  reason  of  his  withdrawing  so  soon  from  the  thea- 
tre of  his  public  actions,  was,  to  deprive  the  people  of  the 
possibility  of  adhering  and  appealing  to  him  in  justification 
of  their  violent  deeds.  Besides,  the  evils  with  which  all  the 
states  of  the  world  were  then  afflicted  could  not  have  been 
removed  by  political  operations  in  the  least  degree.  Such 
enterprises  <ip.ially  open  new  spheres  of  action  for  selfish- 
ness and  the  human  passions,  and  seldom  result  in  any 
thing  but  a  change  of  old  defects  for  others  often  greater. 
§  33.  It  was  impossible,  however,  for  one,  who  aimed 
at  nothing  less  than  the  reformation  and  elevation  of  all 
men,  and  their  improvement  in  every  respect,  to  remain 
indifferent  to  their  political  relations.  As  the  external,  and 
especially  the  social  condition  of  men,  may  be  such  as  to 
prove  either  highly  prejudicial  or  advantageous  to  their 
morals,  Jesus  must  have  made  the  temporal  welfare  of 
men  an  object  of  his  solicitude.  That  he  was  not  inatten- 
tive to  this  subject,  he  has  intimated  with  sufficient  plain- 
ness. He  did  indeed  frequently  remind  his  followers  of 
the  retributions  of  a  future  and  better  world,  but  it  was  not 
his  object  in  so  doing  to  render  them  insensible  to  the 
happiness  of  the  present  life,  or  negligent  and  indifferent 
as  to  its  attainment.  All  that  he  required  of  them  was, 
habitually  to  renounce  this  happiness  whenever  the  higher 
interests  of  truth  and  virtue  and  the  general  good  demand- 
ed such  a  sacrifice.  Matt.  5:  11,  12.  10:  37,  38,  while  he 
assured  them,  that  a  faithful  attention  to  these  subjects 
would  also  result  in  their  external  prosperity,  Luke  12:  31. 
Matt.  6:  33 ;  that  God  would  never  fail  to  supply  their  tem- 
poral wants,  so  long  as  they  were  actuated  by  a  living  zeal 
in  the  discharge  of  their  duty.  Matt.  6:  24 — 32  ;  and  that 
the  courage  and  manly  firmness  with  which  they  adher- 
ed to  the  good  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  and 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  63 

defended  it,  would  often  prove  the  means  of  their  preser- 
vation and  deliverance,  Matt.  10:22.  24:  13.  Luke  21: 
16 — 19.  Hence  it  was,  that  with  reference  to  the  ad- 
vantages which  his  followers  should  derive  from  a  virtu- 
ous course  of  conduct,  the  blessings  to  be  diffused  through- 
out society  by  a  spirit  of  active,  magnanimous,  brotherly 
love,  and  with  reference  to  the  superiority  and  strength, 
which  union  and  integrity  should  give  them  over  their 
vicious  contemporaries,  already  weakened  by  discord,  and 
all  the  good  effects  naturally  resulting  from  radical  im- 
provement, he  promised  them  that  they  should  inherit  the 
earth.  Matt.  5:  5,*  obtain  the  dominion  of  the  world,  Luke 
12:  32,  and,  in  the  new  order  of  things,  receive  back  again 
a  hundred  fold  in  return  for  all  they  lost  by  contending 
in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  truth".  Matt.  19:  27 — 30. 
Mark  10:  28—31.  Luke  28:  29,  30. 

§  34.  None  of  the  temporal  advantages,  however,  with 
which  Jesus  encouraged  his  followers,  were  to  be  the 
spoils  of  bravery  or  conquest,  but  the  fruit  solely  of  a  high 
degree  of  virtue.  The  victory  which  he  promised  them 
depended  altogether  upon  their  fraternal  union  and  the  su- 
periority which  they  should  obtain  by  their  conduct  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  uprightness.  It  was  not  necessary 
therefore  for  them  to  meddle  in  any  way  with  the  civil  in- 
stitutions then  existing,  and  thus  agitate  the  nations  of  the 

*  [Neither  of  these  passages,  in  the  interpretation  of  which  the 
author  appears  to  have  followed  Michaelis,  if  more  correctly  explain- 
ed, should  have  been  brought  forward  in  this  place  ;  for  if  to  inherit 
the  earth,  Matt.  5:  13,  be  taken  in  a  worldly  sense,  it  will  not  agree 
with  the  other  promises,  all  of  which  refer  to  heavenly  and  eternal 
things.  Had  it  been  so  understood,  it  would  have  excited  an  idea 
that  the  Messiah's  kingdom  was  to  be  an  earthly  one,  in  which  sense 
this  promise  was  never  fulfilled  as  regards  Christians  of  the  first  cen- 
tury. There  can  be  little  doubt,  therefore,  that  this  promise  refers  to 
the  truly  permanent  and  heavenly  country,  the  possession  of  which 
is  expressed  in  phraseology  borrowed  from  the  acquisition  of  the  an- 
cient Canaan.  Comp.  Storr,  Opusc,  Academ.  III.  13;  Knapp, 
Scripta  Var.  Arg.  nr.  14,  p.  560.  And  how  could  the  kingdom^ 
Luke  12:  32,  which  it  was  the  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  the  lit- 
tle flock,  be  taken  in  this  place  in  a  sense,  in  which,  as  the  author 
himself  suggests,  vid.  p.  30,  Christ  was  never  accustomed  to  use 
this  phrase .?] 


64 

earth.  On  the  other  hand,  it  seemed  rather  desirable  to 
leave  them  entirely  to  their  owji  fate,  and  wait  in  anticipa- 
tion of  their  rise  or  their  fall,  of  their  longer  duration  or 
their  sudden  destruction,  from  the  influence  of  circumstan- 
ces. No  man  had  a  more  vivid  sense  of  the  imperfec- 
tions of  the  Jewish  constitution  than  Jesus.  He  predicted 
the  unavoidable  overthrow  of  this  state  in  more  intelligible 
language  than  any  who  ever  preceded  him,  and  was  firmly 
resolved  himself  to  abolish  the  religious  regulations  then 
in  existence.  Nevertheless  he  submitted  to  the  laws  of 
his  country  as  long  as  they  were  in  force.  Matt.  17:  24 — 
'27,  told  others  to  do  the  same,  Matt.  22:  21,  and  went 
30  far  as  to  honor  the  ceremonies  of  the  Leyitical  service 
in  the  worship  of  God,  Matt.  8:  4.  Luke  17:  14,  and 
exhort  his  disciples  and  the  people  to  pay  suitable  de- 
ference to  those  who  occupied  the  place  of  public  teach- 
ers, Matt.  23:  2.  Religion  thus  far,  both  among  the  Jews 
and  heathen,  had  constituted  an  essential  part  of  the  ci- 
vil regulations.  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  old  world  were 
in  a  certain  respect  theocratical,  and  hierarchical.  Every 
where,  tjiere  existed  a  state  religion,  which  was  endowed 
with  privileges  and  armed  with  power,  and  consequently 
was  intolerant.  This  was  not  in  any  respect  to  be  the 
case  with  the  religion  which  Jesus  intended  to  spread,  for 
as  soon  as  Christianity  is  connected  with  external  con- 
straints, it  altogether  loses  its  peculiar  character,  and  ceases 
to  be  a  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Jesus  in- 
tended therefore  to  keep  it  entirely  distinct  from  political 
affairs.  For  this  purpose  he  gave  it  such  regulations  as 
were  compatible  with  any  form  of  government,  and  made 
it  the  duty  of  his  followers  to  attend  to  their  civil  rela- 
tions in  every  respect.  As  the  principal  object,  however, 
contemplated  in  his  plan,  was  to  bring  about  and  perfect 
the  regeneration  of  the  human  family,  so  he  was  obliged 
to  teach  principles,  awaken  dispositions  and  feelings,  and 
impart  a  spirit,  the  extension  of  which  would  by  a  gentle, 
regular  arid  silent  progress,  destroy  the  old,  inconvenient, 
and  oppressive  forms  then  in  vogue,  and  substitute  new 
and  far  better  ones  in  their   stead.     Now   the   religion 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  65 

which  Jesus  made  known  to  the  world,  and  the  morality 
connected  with  it,  were  of  such  a  character  as  necessarily 
to  produce  this  effect  as  far  as  extended  in  their  pu- 
rity, comprehended  and  embraced.  They  were  exactly 
calculated  for  delivering  oppressed  humanity  from  its  sla- 
vish fetters,  healing  the  wounds  which  it  had  received  from 
continual  wars,  and  giving  it  that  freedom  and  peace  for 
which  it  had  long  sighed  and  toiled  in  vain. 

^  35.  That  it  was  necessary  for  the  old  huge  fabric  of  Jew- 
ish and  heathen  superstition  gradually  to  give  away,  and  in 
the  end  entirely  to  fall,  before  the  introduction  of  the  better 
religious  knowledge  which  it  was  Christ's  object  to  impart, 
needs  no  proof.  All  the  states  of  the  old  world,  however, 
rested  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  upon^e  pillars  of  this 
superstition,  and  if  these,  their  chief  support  and  indispen- 
sable foundations,  were  taken  away,  it  was  necessary  that 
they  also  should  be  dissolved,  and  gradually  fall  to  ruins. 
The  political  regulations  of  the  old  werld,  as  well  as  a 
great  part  of  the  laws  by  which  justice  was  administered, 
had  their  origin  in  a  spirit  of  selfishness  and  oppression. 
Should  that  love  prevail,  which  constituted  the  soul  of 
Christ's  morality,  it  would  produce  an  entire  change  in 
this  respect.  It  would  of  course  make  the  people  ac- 
quainted with  the  true  character  of  the  old  constitutions, 
and  lead  them  gradually  to  see  that  they  were  hard  and 
oppressive  ;  dishonorable  to  human  nature,  and  incompat- 
ble  with  its  dignity  and  destiny.  The  increasing  influence 
of  this  love  would  soften  mankind,  and  transform  this 
world  from  a  theatre  of  tyranny,  bloodshed,  and  lamen- 
tation, into  a  habitation  of  freedom,  peace,  and  joy.  We 
have  only  to  trace  the  efiects  which  such  a  love  as  that 
which  Jesus  required  his  followers  to  possess  was  calcu- 
lated to  produce  in  all  parts  of  society,  in  order  to  be 
convinced  that  by  its  means  he  intended  to  improve  the 
external  condition  of  our  race,  and  make  them  partakers 
of  true  and  lasting  prosperity. 

§  36.  Jesus  began  his  reformation  of  human  society  and 
its  condition,  where  it  must  ever  be  begun  in  order  to  be 
thorough  and  salutary,  with  the  members  of  domestic  so- 
6* 


66 

ciety.  The  real  love  which  was  to  be  the  means  of  ef- 
fecting this  reformation,  makes  out  of  man  all  that  can  be 
made.  It  quickens  his  powers,  ennobles  his  dispositions 
and  feelings,  moderates  his  inclinations,  extirpates  every 
selfish  passion,  and  suffers  him  to  act  only  as  a  dutiful,  ra- 
tional, useful,  and  conscientious  being.  It  fills  him  with  a 
warm  spirit  of  activity  in  favor  of  every  thing  true,  just, 
and  salutary,  which  is  neither  terrified  at  difficulties,  nor 
wearied  with  hardships.  By  such  dispositions,  feelings, 
and  moral  habits,  Jesus  intended  above  all  things  to  se- 
cure the  welfare  of  families.  Matrimony  was  no  longer  to 
be  a  state  for  the  male  to  exercise  unjust  dominion  over  the 
female,  and  keep  her  in  miserable  servitude.  It  was  to  be 
transformed  intclli  bond  of  kindness,  into  the  noblest  m\d 
tenderest  friendship,  into  a  source  of  a  great  variety  of  joys 
of  the  purest  kind.*  Polygamy  and  polyandry,  whoredom 
and  adultery,  as  well  as  the  divorces  made  among  married 
people  for  frivolous  and  unjustifiable  reasons,  and  all 
those  abuses  and  excesses,  which  had  disturbed  the  peace 
of  society,  filled  it  with  disorder,  and  rendered  its  real 
happiness  impossible,  were  henceforth  to  be  entirely  done 
away,  Matt.  5:  31,  32.  19:4-— 9.  Mark  10:  2—12.  Luke 
16:  18,  for  every  house  was  to  become  a  temple,  and  eve- 
ry inhabitant  to  be  ennobled,  improved,  and  consecrated 
to  the  service  of  God  and  morality.  Here,  heads  of  fam- 
ilies were  to  find  constant  exercise  for  their  virtue.  Here 
children  were  not  only  to  receive  their  existence,  but  the 
most  salutary  attention,  and  be  educated  in  the  best  man- 
ner. Here  the  hard  servitude  in  w^hich  domestics  and 
servants  had  thus  far  sighed  was  to  be  gradually  modified, 
and  ultimately  banished. f  Here  by  the  united  effects  of 
diligence  and  regular  love,  a  foundation  was  to  be  laid, 
and  preparation   made  for  the  welfare  of  new  families. 

*  [Compare  the  author's  System  der  christl.  Moral,  III.  290,  or 
321,4teA.] 

t  [Compare  the  author's  System  der  christl.  Moral,  III.  S.  449, 
or  500  4te  A.  Much  valuable  instruction  in  regard  to  this  sub- 
ject may  be  derived  from  Gregoire,  De  la  domesticite  chez  les  peu- 
ples  anciens  et  modernes,  Paris,  1814.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN*  67 

And  finally,  here  was  to  be  fouffd  the  securest  retreat  from 
all  the  evils  of  life,  and  the  best  alleviation  of  its  pressing 
cares.  Animated  by  the  spirit  of  Christian  love  to  God 
and  man,  every  family  becomes  such  a  venerable  whole ; 
and  it  was  Christ's  object  first  of  all  in  this  way  to  improve 
domestic  society,  and  render  it  happy. 

§  37.  This  love,  however,  was  to  exert  full  as  salutary 
an  influence  upon  civil  society  and  whole  nations  and 
states.  "  Could  we,"  said  Plato,  "  create  so  close,  ten- 
der, and  cordial  a  connexion  between  the  citizens  of  a 
state,  as  to  induce  all  to  consider  themselves  as  relatives, — 
as  fathers,  brothers,  and  sisters,  then  this  whole  state 
would  constitute  but  a  single  family,  be  subjected  to  the 
most  perfect  regulations,  and  become  the  happiest  repub- 
lic that  ever  existed  upon  earth."  This  thought,  in  itself 
considered  truly  excellent,  led  the  philosopher  to  the  idea 
which  has  often  been  ridiculed  by  those  who  perhaps  knew 
not  its  origin  in  his  mind,  of  giving  the  most  distinguished  cit- 
izens of  his  fabulous  state  a  community  of  wives,  and  there- 
by actually  transforming  all  the  descendants  into  blood  rela- 
tives.* What  Plato  sought  to  accomplish  by  the  feeble 
power  of  consanguinity,  means  badly  conceived,!  Jesus  in-  . 
tended  to  accomplish  by  the  power  of  a  religious  and  fra- 
ternal love.  Indeed,  it  is  impossible  in  any  other  way  to 
give  a  nation  harmony  and  connexion,  and  animate  it  with 
the  spirit  of  one  entire  family.  Such  a  love  unites  the 
citizens  of  a  state  together  in  such  a  manner,  that  they 
become,  as  it  were,  members  of  the  same  body,  and  yield 
each  other  constant  assistance,  by  operating  together,  and 
mutually  participating  in  each  other's  cares,  1  Cor.  12: 
12—27.    Rom.  12:  4—8.    Eph.  4:  15,  16.}     This   of 

*  De  Republica,  1.  V.  p.  21  seqq.,  Bip.  ed.  [Tom.  VII.] 
t  Even  Aristotle  brought  forward  some  well  grounded  objections 
to  it,  De  Republ.,  1.  II.  c.  2—4.        ■ 

t  This  was  the  very  idea  that  Plato  had.  of  a  state,  under  perfect 
regulations.  Hence,  in  the  passage  quoted,  he  uses  the  same  illus- 
tration, of  which  Christ's  apostles  avail'  themselves,  when  they 
wish  to  describe  tiie  sj'mpathizing  love,  which,  according  to  the  Gos- 
pel, is  felt  by  every  regenerated  man  for  the  general  welfare.  Comp. 
Rom:  12:  4 — 8,  with  the  illustrations  which  Plato  has  given  of  hig 
views  in  this  respect,  De  Republ.  1.  V.  p:  29  and  30. 


68 

course  produces  a  public  Spirit,  a  patriotic  love,  and  cre- 
ates a  dependance  of  each  member  upon  the  whole,  far 
nobler  in  its  principles,  more  efficacious  in  every  situation 
of  life,  and  far  less  dubious  in  Its  resuhs,  than  the  patriot- 
ism so  celebrated  among  the  selfish  nations  of  ancient  and 
modern  times.*  Wherever  Christian  love  to  God  and  man 
prevails,  it  produces  a  tender  conscientiousness,  ever  in 
operation,  which  leads  one  not  only  to  avoid  all  those 
vices  destructive  to  the  order  and  peace  of  good  soci- 
ety, but  to  stand  in  his  place,  and  do  whatever  duty  and 
justice  require  without  reference  to  any  other  obligation, 
and  without  any  respect  to  rewards  and  punishments.  Tn 
all  transactions  and  every  kind  of  business,  it  creates  a 
zeal,  honesty,  diligence,  confidence,  and  faithfulness,  wdiich 
cannot  be  effected  to  the  same  degree  by  any  other  means. 
Hence  this  love  must  be  of  great  advantage  in  legislation. 
Those  magistrates  and  members  of  civil  society,  who  are 
animated  by  the  spirit  of  genuine  Christian  philanthropy, 
know  the  infinite  value  of  human  nature,  and  the  sacred 
rights  that  belong  to  it.  They  will,  therefore,  neither 
make  nor  tolerate  those  absurd,  useless,  cruel,  and  op- 
pressive laws  which  are  opposed  to  its  dignity  and  destiny. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  will  endeavor  to  dispose  of  all 
the  relations  and  claims  of  the  different  classes  of  society 
in  a  manner  the  most  consistent  with  the  rights  and  the 
happiness  of  each  individual.  Finally,  this  love,  by  cher- 
ishing the  peaceful,  domestic  virtues,  diffuses  life,  warmth, 
health,  and  strength,  throughout  the  state  where  it  prevails, 
from  which  must  result  a  youthful  bloom  and  lasting  pros- 
perity. Here  it  should  be  particularly  observed,  that  the 
salutary  effects  of  a  Christian  love  to  God  and  man  do 
not  necessarily  presuppose  this  or  that  form  of  govern- 
ment. No,  they  can  be  produced  in  every  state,  though 
in  some  easier  than  in  others.  The  means  of  which  Jesus 
intended  to  avail  himself  for  bringing  the  civil  regulations 

*  [Vid.  the  author's  System  dor  christl.  Moral,  HI.  S.  496,  or 
549, 4te  A.,  and  his  Sermons  v.  1804,  I.  nr.  4.  am  Sonnt.  Reminisce-, 
re,  concerning  the  remarkable  union  which  the  Gospel  creates  be- 
tween love  to  one's  country  and  philanthropy  in  general.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  *       69 

of  the  human  family  to  a  greater  degree  of  moral  perfec- 
tion, and  making  them  subservient  to  real  happiness,  is  of 
such  unlimited  application,  as  to  be  compatible  with  every 
form  of  government  that  has  ever  existed  ;  for  it  ennobles 
them  all,  fills  them  with  the  greatest  possible  energy,  and 
procures  the  most  powerful  influence  for  every  thing  that 
they  contain  which  is  good  and  excellent. 

§  38.  Far  more  important,  hovvever,  was  the  change 
which  he  intended,  to  effect  in  the  human  family  in  gene- 
ral. Hitherto  the  nations  of  the  earth  had  had  gods  of 
their  own,  which  they  worshipped  with  distinct  rites  and 
ceremonies.  This  difference  of  religion  had  separated  one 
from  another,  and  too  often  occasioned  grudges,  mutual 
hostilities,  and  contempt ;  at  least,  in  various  ways,  it  had 
proved  the  means  of  impeding  that  intercourse,  which 
ought  to  exist  between  nations.  Things  were  not  always 
to  remain  thus.  An  entire  and  eternal  change  was  to  be 
effected  in  this  respect.  The  attention  of  mankind  at  large 
was  now  to  be  directed  to  one  God,  as  their  common  Cre- 
ator and  Lord  ;  as  a  Being,  who  treats  all  with  the  same 
impartial  and  paternal  tenderness,  and  does  not  require 
his  subjects  to  worship  him  with  external  splendor,  nor  by 
arbitrary  rites  and  ceremonies,  but  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
and  of  course  substantially  in  the  same  way.  Hitherto, 
mankind  had  been  wholly  destitute  of  that  genuine  human- 
ity, that  real  public  spirit,  that  hearty  benevolence  which 
comprehends  all  in  its  grasp.  Hence  the  barbarity  of 
most  nations  and  the  hostile  jealousies  and  constant  rage 
of  war  prevalent  among  them,  as  well  as  the  universal  es- 
teem in  which  valor  and  heroism  were  held,  and  the  hon- 
or which  was  bestowed  upon  those  who  had  destroyed 
cities,  laid  waste  countries,  and  reduced  large  portions  of 
the  world  to  subjection.  In  this  respect  also  an  entire  and 
eternal  change  was  to  be  effected.  The  spirit  of  love 
With  which  Jesus  intended  to  inspire  mankind,  was  to  ex- 
tirpate every  trace  of  barbarity,  and  humanize  and  tame 
the  wildest  nations  of  the  earth.  How  muchsoever  single 
classes  and  tribes  of  men  might  differ  from  each  other  in  na- 
ture, form,  languages,  manners,  customs,  and  governments, 


70      • 

they  were  now  to  be  brought  to  feel  their  near  relation- 
ship to  each  other,  treat  each  other  as  brethren,  consider 
themselves  as  the  creatures  and  the  children  of  one  univer- 
sal Father,  and  mainly  to  have  the  same  interests  of  virtue, 
truth,  morality,  and  happiness,  in  view.  The  sword  of 
war  was  to  cease  its  rage.  The  earth,  which  had  hitherto 
been  the  theatre  of  oppression,  and  drunk  the  blood  of 
her  inhabitants  in  streams,  was  to  be  transformed  into  a 
place  of  order  and  repose,  and  no  longer  be  covered  with 
human  gore.  The  gentle  reign  of  reason  and  love  was 
henceforth  to  take  the  place  of  the  iron  dominion  which 
had  hitherto  been  maintained  over  mankind  by  the  power 
and  right  of  the  strongest,  and  all  contests  between  nations 
to  be  decided  by  them  with  the  voice  of  uprightness. 
That  shy  reserve  and  jealous  mistrust  with  which  nations 
and  states  had  been  accustomed  to  contemplate  each  oth- 
er, was  also  to  be  done  away,  and  open  honesty,  invio- 
lable fidelity  and  firm  integrity  to  animate  all  transactions, 
and  constitute  the  security  of  every  alliance.  Hith- 
erto the  free  exercise  of  reason,  the  happy  extension  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  and  the  wise  use  of  the  good  and 
excellent  things  with  which  mankind  are  presented  in  the 
kingdom  of  nature,  had  met  with  many  and  various  obsta- 
cles. Superstition  had  rendered  the  human  mind  indolent 
and  timid.  The  mad  and  intolerant  priesthood  had  thrown 
reason  into  fetters  and  oppressed  it  as  far  as  lay  in  their 
power.  The  division  of  the  human  femily  into  distinct 
classes  of  men  having  but  little  connexion  with  each  other, 
had  prevented  those  inventions  of  universal  utility,  which 
were  the  property  of  individual  nations,  from  becoming  as 
general  as  they  deserved  to  be.  In  this  respect  also,  ev- 
ery thing  was  to  be  changed.  Human  nature  was  now  to 
obtain  the  full  and  unabridged  possession  of  those  rights 
of  which  it  had  so  long  been  deprived  by  superstition  and 
intolerance.  Under  the  powerful  protection  of  an  all-ex- 
citing love  it  was  to  obtain  ample  room'  for  action.  It  was 
no  longer  to  be  altogether  prevented  from  engaging  in  nu- 
merous investigations,  or  else  obliged  to  veil  its  discoveries 
in  enigmatical  obscurities.     Even  religion,  to  which  it  was 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OP  ALL  MEN.  71 

indebted  for  its  freedom,  was  to  be  subjected  to  its  cor- 
recting decisions.  Reason  was  to  try  every  thing  and  retain 
the  best.  This  love  to  God  and  man  was  to  become  the 
main  spring  of  every  effort  of  the,  human  mind,  and,  by 
arousing  its  faculties  and  putting  them  in  action,  to  prove 
the  means  of  extending  its  investigations  to  every  thing  that 
exists ; — was  to  purify  and  refine  the  whole  mass  of  its 
knowledge,  to  enlarge  the  sciences  already  known,  and 
lead  to  new  discoveries  ; — was  to  improve  and  muhiply  the 
beneficial  arts  of  life,  and  to  exalt  the  enjoyment  of  them 
by  always  enabling  reason  to  make  a  profitable  use  of  the. 
productions,  and  the  good  things  of  nature.  In  this  way  a 
general  connexion  was  to  be  established  between  nations, 
and  their  fraternal  familiarity,  and  noble  and  benevolent  dis- 
positions and  feelings  towards  each  other,  were  to  become 
the  means  of  rendering  all  valuable  knowledge,  every 
beneficial  discovery  and  every  art  calculated  to  embellish 
life,  of  the  most  extensive  utility  to  mankind,  and  leading 
one  part  of  the  earth  to  feel  an  active  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare and  the  happiness  of  another.  By  means,  there- 
fore, of  one  of  the  gentlest,  holiest,  and  firmest  bonds, 
which  the  human  heart  is  capable  of  appreciating,  the 
human  race  were  to  be  united  into  one  family  devo- 
ted to  the  service  of  God,  and  led  on  to  the  attainment  of 
every  possible  degree  of  perfection.  In  their  earthly  hab- 
itation they  were  to  recognise  an  exterior  court  leading  to  a 
higher  sanctuary,  and  while  its  occupants  were  daily  to  be- 
come better  prepared  for  a  transition  from  one  to  the  other. 
I  need  not  stop  to  call  the  attention  of  him  who  has  any 
perception  of  the  great  and  exalted,  to  the  divinity  of  this 
plan.  Such  an  one  will  be  unable  to  contemplate  it  with- 
out deep  admiration  and  a  kind  of  delightful  awe ;  and  he 
who  has  no  perception  of  what  is  truly  great,  would  not 
understand  me,  should  I  attempt  to  give  him  an  explana- 
tion of  its  exaked  character. 


72 

III.  The  manner  in  which  Christ's  plan  was  to 

BE  carried  into  EFFECT. 

§  39.  He,  however,  who  examines  the  plan  which  the 
founder  of  Christianity  had  before  him,  will  fail  to  arrive 
at  a  full  view  of  it,  without  attending  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  From  reflecting 
upon  the  subject  in  general,  it  appears,  that  Jesus  might 
have  made  choice  of  any  one  of  three  different  ways  for 
this  purpose.  He  might  have  employed  power  and  en- 
gaged in  warlike  enterprises  for  removing  the  obstacles 
that  stood  in  the  v/ay  of  his  improvements  :  he  might  have 
put  the  hidden  springs  of  a  secret  society  in  motion,  and, 
by  imperceptible  compulsion,  have  endeavored  to  reduce 
mankind  to  the  order  which  I  have  already  described : 
or,  finally,  he  might  have  made  use  of  the  gentlest  means 
possible,  and  have  allured  the  human  mind  to  reflect  upon 
its  relations,  and  conduct  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  high 
destination  by  means  of  convincing  instruction  and  the 
introduction  of  appropriate  regulations.  Jesus  rejected 
the  two  first  of  these  means  and  chose  the  last.  This  can 
be  incontestibly  shown  from  his  history. 


JUSUS  DID  NOT  THINK  OF  EMPLOYING  POWER. 

§  40.  Jesus  did  not  intend  to  make  use  of  power,  or 
engage  in  warlike  enterprises  for  removing  the  obstacles 
that  stood  in  the  way  of  his  improvements.  He  has  ex- 
pressed himself  on  this  point  with  sufficient  clearness. 
The  very  first  time  that  he  made  his  appearance  in  pub- 
lic at  Jerusalem,  when  he  seemed  inclined  to  make  use  of 
power  in  opposing  certain  abuses  then  prevalent  in  the 
temple,  he  assured  those  who  spoke  with  him  upon  the 
subject,  that  he  had  no  idea  of  doing  so  ;  that,  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  he  was  ready  to  submit  to  the  ill  treatment  of  his 
countrymen,  by  whom  he  expected  to  be  put  to  death, 
John  2:  19:  22.*    In  a  private  conversation  which  he  held 

*  [The  author  in  this  place,  as  well  as  in  his  treatise,  De  Christo, 
suam  dura  viveret  reaurrectionem  praedicente,  Opusc,  Academ,  II. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  73 

with  Nicodemus,  on  the  same  occasion,  he  told  him  ex- 
pHcitly,  that  he  came,  not  to  judge  the  world  but  to  save 
it ;  that  it  was  not  his  intention  to  fulfil  the  vain  and  cruel 
expectations  which  his  countrymen  had  of  the  Messiah,  by 
subduing  the  heathen  in  bloody  wars,  but  to  offer  himself 
a  sacrifice  for  all  mankind,  John  3:  14 — 17.  The  first 
thing  that  he  did,  after  having  chosen  the  twelve  men,  who, 
under  the  name  of  apostles,  were  to  be  his  confidential 
pupils  and  friends,  was,  to  lay  down  rules  for  the  regu- 
lation of  their  future  conduct  in  executing  his  commissions, 
Matt.  10:  35  seqq.  In  so  doing,  he  prohibited  them  from 
making  use  of  power  not  only,  but  any  of  those  means  in 
themselves  innocent,  of  which  men  had  formerly  availed 
themselves  in  order  to  acquire  influence  and  authority. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  told  them  frankly  that  he  sent  them 
forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves;  that  nothing  but 
perils  and  persecutions  were  before  them  ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  charged  them  never  to  think  of  opposing  any  thing 
to  the  attacks  of  their  enemies  but  wisdom  and  patience. 
He  told  them  that  it  would  be  unreasonable  for  them  to 
expect  better  treatment  than  he  had  received,  and  that  all 
who  would  adhere  to  him,  must  resolve  to  relinquish  the 
greatest  advantages,  and  offer  up  their  very  lives  in  sac- 
rifice to  the  cause  of  truth.  Jesus  is  known  very  often 
to  have  given  similar  instructions  to  his  friends,  for  the 
purpose  of  familiarizing  them  with^the  representation  that 

32 — 34,  follows  that  explanation  of  Christ's  words,  founded  upon  the 
authority  of  the  apostle  John,  which  is  far  more  agreeable  to  the  con- 
text than  that  which  is  now  generally  adopted  after  the  example 
of  Henke.  Jesus  was  reproached  with  having  an  intention  apparent- 
ly to  begin  a  great  reformation,  and  was  asked  for  his  authority  to 
do  so.  Had  he  replied  :  "  I  intend  to  give  you  a  new  religious  con- 
stitution," it  would  have  been  arguing  in  a  circle,  and  the  same  as 
if  he  had  said  :  "  tiiat  I  am  to  reform  you,  I  prove  by  the  fact  that  I 
reform  you.  In  that  case  too,  he  would  have  said  lyiOix)  uXkov,  rath- 
er than  f  yaou)  avrov,  as  this  temple  would  not  have  been  the  one  that 
he  intended  to  restore.  But  why  might  not  Jesus  disclose  the  ha- 
tred of  his  enemies  then  at  work  to  betray  him,  and  show  them  how 
he  saw  through  their  hearts,  and  that  he  knew  well  where  their  plans 
would  end,  but  that  he  should  after  all  get  the  victory  ?  The  threat- 
ening imperative  is  used  exactly  as  in  Matt.  23:  32.  Rev.  22;  11,  and 
was  calculated  to  terrify  the  confident,  and  upbraid  them  with  what 
their  wicked  spirits  were  incessantly  endeavoring  to  effect.] 
7 


74 

their  business  was  not  to  fight  and  conquer,  but  to  teach 
and  suffer.  In  the  last  and  confidential  discourses  which 
he  held  with  his  disciples  shortly  before  his  death,  John 
XII — XVI,  in  which  he  spoke  very  circumstantially  of  the 
means  which  they  were  to  use  in  the  execution  of  his  great 
work  after  his  decease,  not  a  trace  is  to  be  found  of  any 
command  enjoining  it  upon  them  to  think  of  coercive  meas- 
ures. So  far  is  this  from  being  the  case,  that  he  tells 
them  again  with  increased  frankness,  that  they  must  be- 
come sacrificial  victims  for  the  good  of  the  world,  and  suf- 
fer in  defenceless  submission,  John  16:  1 — 4.  From  the 
fact  then,  that,  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  public 
career,  Jesus  declared  that  he  was  soon  to  die,  John  2: 19. 
3:  14,  and  often  repeated  the  prediction,  at  the  same  time 
expressly  assuring  his  hearers  that  he  had  no  intention  of 
venturing  upon  any  enterprise  for  the  acquisition  of  power, 
but  that  his  object  was  to  offer  his  life  for  the  good  of  the 
world.  Matt.  20:  24 — 28,  it  is  in  general  sufficiently  evi- 
dent, that  he  was  very  far  from  entertaining  any  idea  of 
carrying  his  plan  into  execution  by  violent  means.  Nor 
was  the  death  to  which  he  so  often  alluded  as  in  prospect, 
such  as  the  hero  meets  with  on  the  field  of  battle,  for  he 
describes  it  in  the  clearest  manner  as  an  execution  to  be 
inflicted  upon  him  by  the  magistrates,  Mark  10:  33,  34, 
Luke  18:  31 — 34.  Certainly  he  would  not  have  volun- 
tarily submitted  to  such  ill  treatment,  had  he  thought  of  us- 
ing power. 

There  are  only  two  passages  to  be  found  in  the  accounts 
given  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  which  seem  to  imply  the  con- 
trary, and  these  have  often  been  wrested  in  proof  of  the 
accusation  that  Jesus  intended  to  accomplish  his  designs 
by  force.  "  Think  not,''  said  he  to  his  aposdes,  "  that 
I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth  :  I  came  not  to  send 
peace  but  a  sword.  For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  va- 
riance against  his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  her 
mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law, 
and  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household,"  Matt. 
10:  34 — 36.  This  passage,  considered  by  itself  as  many, 
with  great  partiality  and  injustice,  have  considered  it,  does 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  75 

certainly  appear  to  speak  in  very  strong  terms  of  warlike 
projects,  which  were  to  put  every  thing  in  commotion.* 
When,  however,  we  observe  that  this  is  a  part  of  the  very 
same  discourse  in  which  Jesus  makes  it  the  duty  of  his 
friends,  in  their  future  efforts  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  purposes,  to  exercise  the  most  discreet  moderation,  and 
the  most  patient  submission,  while  he  informs  them  of  the 
oppressions  they  must  suffer,  and  that  too,  without  employ- 
ing power  in  their  own  defence  ;  when  we  farther  observe 
that  immediately  afterwards  he  requires  them  to  become 
martyrs  in  the  cause  of  truth,  every  doubt  must  vanish, 
that,  in  the  passage  quoted,  Jesus  speaks  solely  of  the  vio- 
lent movements  which  should  result  from  the  blind  relig- 
ious zeal  of  the  Jews  and  heathen,  and  their  opposition  to 
the  promulgation  of  his  doctrines.  In  accordance  with 
the  vain  expectations  of  the  Jewish  nation  respecting  Je- 
sus, the  apostles  had  anticipated  a  life  full  of  ease,  joy,  and 
peace.  In  this  place,  however,  as  often  in  other  places, 
he  frankly  tells  them  that  he  had  never  intended  to  grati- 
fy their  desires  in  this  respect ;  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
usual  consequences  of  making  known  the  truth  to  minds 
under  the  influence  of  prejudice  and  vice,  should  en- 
sue, and  that  they  should  meet  with  trouble,  opposition, 
and  persecution.  Thus  his  friaids  understood  him ; 
for  none  were  more  earnest  in  recommending  a  willing 
submission  to  magistrates,  and  a  compliance  with  every 
civil  regulation,  than  they.  Hence,  for  the  three  first 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  not  an  instance  can  found 
in  which  Christfans,  though  they  were  numerous  and 
might  easily  have  done  so,  ever  opposed  power  with  power, 
or  took  up  arms  against  the  inhuman  tyrants  by  whom 
they  were  often  most  cruelly  persecuted. t 

With  far  less  appearance  of  truth,  can  an  appeal  be 
made  to  those  words  which  Jesus  spoke  to  his  apostles  a 

*  For  example,  the  author  of  the  Catechisme  de  L'honnete-Hom- 
me,  p.  34. 

t  Consult  Tertullian,  Apologet.  c.  37,  Havercamp's  Ed.    [Conip. 
Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  2.  S.  434  ff.] 


76 

few  hours  before  he  was  taken  prisoner  ;  **  He  that  hath 
no  sword,  let  him  sell  his  garment  and  buy  one,"  Luke  22: 
36.  Jesus  does  not  here  speak  of  the  manner  in  which 
his  great  plan  was  to  be  carried  into  execution,  but  of  the 
changes  about  to  take  place.  From  the  whole  context 
of  the  discourse  it  is  perfectly  evident,  that  he  intended 
solely  to  remind  his  apostles  to  think  of  their  own  security, 
and  guard  them  against  the  expectation,  that  he  should  de- 
liver them  in  a  wonderful  manner  from  the  danger  before 
them,  when  he  was  about  to  give  himself  up  entirely  to  the 
rage  of  his  enemies.  As  soon  as  he  perceived  that  his 
figurative  expression  had  not  been  properly  understood, 
he  explained  it,  and  being  asked  by  the  apostles  whether 
the  two  swords  then  in  their  possession  were  enough,  re- 
plied that  they  were  amply  sufficient ;  an  answer  which 
would  have  had  no  meaning,  had  he  intended  to  prepare 
for  an  energetic  resistance,  and  oppose  power  with  power.* 
§  41.  It  will  be  still  more  evident  that  Jesus  intended 
to  avoid  making  use  of  any  kind  of  power  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  great  purposes,  if  we  glance  at  the  whole 
course  of  his  conduct  while  engaged  in  the  public  minis- 
try. Upon  the  strictest  examination  of  it,  we  find  that  Je- 
sus not  only  made  no  preparations  for  violent  enterprises, 
but  that  he  sought  carefully  to  avoid  all  those  who  were 
able  to  put  him  in  a  condition  for  obtaining  influence  and 
power.  Scarcely  had  he  left  the  obscurity  of  private  life, 
before  opportunities  were  presented  him  for  coming  in  con- 
tact with  men  of  more  or  less  influence  and  authority. 
The  very  first  time  that  he  made  his  appearance  as  a  pub- 
lic teacher  at  Jerusalem  and  began  to  attract  the  attention 
of  his  countrymen,  he  was  visited  by  a  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  Sanhedrim,  John  3: 1  seqq.,  who  expressed  opin- 
ions respecting  him  from  which  he  might  have  inferred 


*  For  other  attempts  to  explain  this  somewhat  obscure  passage, 
[abused  also  by  the  Fragmentist,  S.  153,]  and  show  that  the  lan- 
guage cannot  be  understood  of  violent  measures,  consult  the  notes 
of  Michaelis,  appended  to  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in 
German,  Th.  I.  S.  486,  and  Flatt's  Magazin  ftlr  christliche  Dog- 
jnatik  und  Moral,  St.  HI.  224  fF. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  77 

that  it  would  be  very  easy  for  him  to  raise  up  a  party  in 
his  favor  among  the  most  respectable  men  of  his  nation, 
John  3:  2.  Such  a  prospect  would  have  been  very  agree- 
able to  him,  had  the  acquisition  of  power  been  his  object. 
Jesus,  however,  was  so  indifferent  to  it,  that  his  conversa- 
tion with  Nicodemus  was  calculated  to  irritate  and  alien- 
ate this  man's  feelings,  rather  than  gain  his  love  and  affection. 
Soon  afterwards,  Jesus  was  presented  with  an  opportuni- 
ty for  forming  a  connexion  with  one  of  Herod  the  Te- 
trarch's  noblemen,  by  which  means,  a  way  was  opened  for 
his  acquiring  influence  at  this  ruler's  court.  Of  this  op- 
portunity he  made  no  use.  On  the  other  hand,  he  refused 
to  return  to  Capernaum  in  company  with  this  man,  or  to 
receive  the  least  favor  at  his  hands,  John  4:  46 — 54.  And 
in  short,  not  an  expression  ever  escaped  him,  which  indi- 
cated that  he  had  ever  thought  of  cultiv^ating  an  acquain- 
tance with  the  distinguished  and  powerful  and  drawing  them 
into  his  interests. — Let  no  one  think,  however,  that  he 
avoided  intercourse  with  the  great  men  of  his  nation  in  or- 
der to  effect  violent  changes  by  availing  himself  of  the  as- 
sistance of  the  lower  classes.  It  is  true  that  he  was  often 
followed  by  great  multitudes  at  once,  and  that  on  many  oc- 
casions, he  might,  with  but  little  trouble,  have  collected  to- 
gether quite  an  army.  Instead  of  exciting  their  zeal,  how- 
ever, in  his  behalf,  he  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  as- 
suage it,  and  prevent  disorders  of  every  kind.  In  his 
meetings  with  the  people,  he  spoke  of  nothing  but  the  truths 
of  religion.  The  affairs  of  the  state  were  never  mentioned. 
Indeed,  he  refused  to  meddle  with  any  thing  that  appeared 
to  have  the  least  connexion  with  them,  Luke  12:  13,  14. 
He  never  hinted  at  his  being  the  offspring  of  David,  and 
having  sprung  from  royal  blood ;  a  fact,  which  would  have 
contributed  greatly  to  procure  for  him  the  favor  of  the 
common  people.  On  the  other  hand,  he  apparently  wish- 
ed to  avert  their  attention  from  the  subject.  Hence,  from 
the  very  commencement  of  his  pubhc  ministry,  he  kept  at  a 
certain  distance  from  his  Mother,  thus  implying  that  he  foun- 
ded no  claims  upon  his  origin,  Matt.  12;  46  seqq.  Mark  3: 
31  seqq.  Luke  8:  19.  Not  unfrequently  did  he  prohibit 
7* 


78 

those  present  from  making  known  his  benevolent  ac- 
tions, when  there  was  danger  of  its  exciting  disturban- 
ces among  the  multitude.  He  never  flattered  the  peo- 
ple, but  often  told  them  the  bitterest  truths,  with  the 
most  unshrinking  boldness,  John  6:  26  seqq.  In  order 
to  diminish  the  number  of  those  that  crowded  around  him, 
he  frequently  avoided  thickly  settled  villages,  and  retired 
into  barren  deserts,  where  it  was  impossible  for  large 
multitudes  to  subsist.  To  prevent  the  accumulation  of 
the  people  to  such  a  degree  that  they  should  conceive 
themselves  strong  enofigh  to  undertake  something  in 
his  behalf,  he  contrived  to  distribute  the  muhitude  of 
those  who  wished  to  see  and  hear  him,  into  very  small 
and  harmless  numbers,  by  constantly  travelling  from  place 
to  place ;  and  when  one  of  the  larger  crowds  was^  intent 
upon  making  him  king,  and  fighting  for  him,  he  withdrew 
from  it  until  it  was  quieted  and  dispersed.  In  addition 
to  all  this,  he  was  poor,  which,  undoubtedly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  depriving  those  who  adhered  to  him  of  all  hopes 
of  earthly  gain,  he  never  sought  to  conceal.  Matt.  8.  20. 
17:  24  ;  he  paid  no  attention  to  the  acquisition  of  property, 
but  appears  to  have  relinquished  what  he  may  have  possess- 
ed and  might  enjoyed,*  and  thus  gave  up  the  means  the  most 
necessary  for  those  who  engage  in  great  and  violent  under- 

*  2  Cor.  8:9.  History  discloses  nothing  of  Christ's  having  been  rich  and 
then  taken  upon  himself  a  voluntary  poverty  ;  but  it  does  not  thence 
follow  that  this  passage  is  to  be  understood  in  a  figurative  sense.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  credible  accounts  of  the  domestic  affairs  of 
Jesus,  are  very  imperfect ;  and  more  than  one  way  can  be  thought  of, 
in  which  he  may  have  acquired  property,  notwithstanding  the  pover- 
ty of  his  parents.  Corap.  Beytrftge  zur  Beforderung  des  vernUnftig- 
en  Denkens  in  der  Religion,  Heft  IV.  S.  160  ff.  [This  explanation 
of  Corridi,  built  as  it  is,  upon  a  mere  hypothesis,  in  some  respects, 
a  singular  one,  has  too  much  to  oppose  it,  to  admit  of  its  being  prefer- 
red to  the  common  one.  Mary  was  evidently  poor,  for  she  brought 
a  poor  person's  offering  on  the  presentation  of  Jesus,  Luke  2.  24,  and 
she  was  also  poor  at  Christ's  death,  John  19: 26,  27.  Had  Jesus  ac- 
quired wealth  while  he  belonged  to  her  family,  she  would  certainly 
have  been  the  owner  of  it,  and  it  would  have  been  out  o^his  power 
to  give  this  family  property  away.  But,  which  is  a  far  more  impor- 
tant consideration,  could  it  be  said  that  we  are  indebted  for  all  our 
spiritual  wealth,  that  is,  the  whole  work  of  redemptiori,  to  the  pre- 
tended, voluntary  poverty  of  Jesus  ?] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  79 

takings ;  and  finally,  he  chose  poor  men  out  of  the  lowest 
ranks  of  society  for  the  future  execution  of  his  plan,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  prohibit  them  from  habiting  themselves 
in  a  manner  indicative  of  external  power,  Luke  22: 25,  26. 
With  all  these  facts  before  us,  every  suspicion  must  vanish, 
that  Jesus  intended  to  employ  violent  measures  in  carry- 
ing his  plan  into  effect.  It  is  impossible  for  that  man  to 
have  determined  upon  employing  power,  who  not  only  neg- 
lects, but  despises  all  the  means  of  exercising  power. 

<5>  42.  The  only  thing  remaining  which  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  Jesus  intended  to  execute  his  plan  by  force, 
is  his  final  entrance  into  Jerusalem.  This,  at  first  glance, 
certainly  appears  to  have  something  doubtful  upon  the 
face  of  it,  and  looks  like  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  capital,  the  temple,  and  the  chief  autho- 
rity, by  surprise  in  the  midst  of  a  tumult.  I  am  well  aware 
of  the  odious  light  in  which  this  affair  has  been  represent- 
ed, and  the  injurious  suspicions  which  have  been  drawn 
from  it.*  That  man  however  must  be  very  unfair,  and 
have  altogether  lost  sight  of  the  connexion  of  this  event 
with  what  precedes,  to  discover  in  it  any  traces  of  violent 
designs.  As  in  this  case  it  is  important  to  exhibit  convinc- 
ing proof,  that  Jesus  in  the  execution  of  his  plan  contem- 
plated nothing  of  the  kind,  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to 
subjoin  a  few  remarks  respecting  this  memorable  part  of 
his  history. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Jesus  entered  upon  his  last 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  with  the  conviction  that  he  was  to 
be  executed  there.  He  foretold  his  friends  of  the  event 
before  he  left  Galilee,  Matt.  20:  17—19.  Mark  10:  32— 
34.  Luke  18:  31—34.  John  11:  7—16,  and  seized  eve- 
ry occasion  to  remind  them  of  it,  while  on  his  way  thither. 
Now  it  is  evident  at  first  glance,  that  these  declarations 
are  altogether  opposed  to  the  idea  of  his  having  intended 
to  take  possession  of  Jerusalem  in  a  sedition.  It  is  also 
worthy  of  remark,  that  from  these  same  declarations  we 
may  justly  infer  it  was  not  the  intention  of  Jesus  to  with- 

*  [Especially  by  the  Fragmentist,  V.  Zweck  Jesu,  S.  145 — 154.] 


80  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

draw  himself  as  he  had  hitherto  done,  should  he  do  any 
thing  to  furnish  his  enemies  among  the  great  men  at  Jeru- 
salem with  a  pretext  to  complain  of  him  and  inflict  upon 
him  the  punishment  of  death.  His  object  at  this  time,  as 
we  may  gather  from  all  the  circumstances,  was,  to  die  at 
Jerusalem,  as  he  wished  to  suffer  a  death  which  should 
take  place  in  the  presence  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  ex- 
cite great  attention.  It  was  impossible  for  him  there- 
fore to  avoid  surrendering  himself  into  the  hands  of 
his  bitterest  enemies,  and  of  course  impossible  for  him 
to  avoid  acting  entirely  different  from  what  he  had  hith- 
erto usually  done.  An  occasion  soon  presented,  in  which 
Jesus,  without  doing  any  thing  that  can  be  imputed  to 
him  as  sin,  was  enabled  to  produce  a  movement  which 
furnished  his  enemies  at  Jerusalem  with  exactly  such 
an  opportunity  as  they  had  long  desired,  for  removing  him 
out  of  the  way,  and  determined  them  to  hasten  the  ac- 
complishment of  their  purpose. 

On  account  of  the  nearness  of  the  feast  of  the  passover, 
Jerusalem  was  filled  with  strangers  by  the  time  that  Jesus 
arrived  at  Bethany,  which  is  known  to  be  about  half  an 
hour's  distance  from  the  city.  Here  he  stopped  and  raised 
his  friend  Lazarus,  who  had  died  several  days  previous  to 
his  arrival.  The  report  of  this  affair  soon  reached  Jeru- 
salem, and  drew  out  great  multitudes  to  see  Jesus  and  the 
man  whom  he  had  raised  from  the  dead.  Although,  ia 
order  to  escape  from  the  crowd,  Jesus  withdrew  from  Be- 
thany immediately  after  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  and 
concealed  himself  in  an  obscure  village  of  Ephraim,* 
John  11:  54,  yet,  as  the  passover  was  near  at  hand,  he 
was  obliged  in  a  few  days  to  return  again  to  Bethany,  in 
order  to  prepare  for  his  entrance  into  Jerusalem,  John  12: 
1 .  Scarcely  had  it  been  reported  in  the  city  that  Jesus 
had  re-entered  Bethany,  when  increasing  multitudes  un- 
der the  influence  of  curiosity  and  admiration,  again  went 
out  to  see  him,  John  12:  9.  As  these  multitudes  greatly 
honored  Jesus,  and  in  him  hoped  to  find  the  long  expected 

*  Reland,  Palestina,  Tom.  I.  37G  seqq.  and  Tom.  II.  p.  765.     Also 
Bachiene,  Beschreibung  von  Palastina,  Th.  II.  B.  III.  §  579. 


;W' 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  81 

divine  deliverer  of  their  nation,  it  was  natural  for  them  to 
offer  their  services  to  accompany  him,  as  soon  as  they 
learned  that  he  was  preparing  to  enter  Jerusalem,  and  hit 
upon  the  thought  of  conducting  him  thither  with  as  much 
animation  and  as  great  exhibitions  of  festivity  as  possible. 
Accordingly,  a  noisy  procession  was  formed,  which  sur- 
rounded him  with  joyful  acclamations,  and  increased  in  its 
progress  towards  the  city.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  those  who  had  long  cherished  the  idea,  that  Jesus  was 
to  be  the  deliverer  of  his  country,  the  Messiah  for  whoni 
they  had  so  often  anxiously  wished,  should,  in  the  tumult 
of  their  joy,  and  under  the  influence  of  this  excited  state 
of  feeling,  begin  to  express  this  hope  in  words,  and  actu- 
ally salute  him  as  king  of  Israel.  Having  entered  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem,  all  that  he  did,  was,  to  clear  it  of  ava- 
ricious merchants  and  money  changers,  as  he  had  done 
before,  and  in  his  usual  manner  impart  instruction  to  the 
people. 

This  account,  taken  out  of  the  Gospels,  is  sufficient  of  it- 
self to  prove  that  there  is  no  well  founded  reason  for  blam- 
ing Jesus  in  taking  this  step,  and  considering  it  as  the  result  of 
a  rash  experiment.  The  following  circumstances,  howev- 
er, exhibit  this  in  a  still  clearer  light,  and  make  it  perfect- 
ly evident,  that  the  entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem  was 
in  no  respects  intended  as  an  artificial  contrivance  for  the 
accomplishment  of  a  more  important  object.  Not  the 
least  arrangement  was  made  for  this  entrance.  Nobody 
had  been  armed,  and  no  expectations  had  been  excited, 
that  an  important  change  was  in  progress.  Jesus  had  in- 
structed the  multitudes  whom  curiosity  had  drawn  togeth- 
er around  him,  with  the  same  gentleness  that  he  had  for- 
merly been  accustomed  to  do,  and,  instead  of  exciting  in 
them  a  spirit  of  wild  disorder  and  war,  imperceptibly  pre- 
pared them  for  rejoicing.  While  on  his  way  to  the  city, 
in  order  to  avoid  every  appearance  of  violence,  he  as- 
sumed the  quiet  and  peaceful  habits  of  a  pilgrim  in  com- 
pany with  his  friends  going  up  to  the  feast,  and  thus,  as 
one  of  the  Evangelists  expresses  it,  using  the  words  of  an 
old  prophet,  "came  meek  and  lowly  to  Jerusalem."  That 


82 

this  solemnity  was  really  of  such  a  character  and  had  no- 
thing suspicious  about  it,  is  evident  in  particular  from  the 
fact,  that  it  did  not  attract  the  attention  of  the  Romans. 
It  is  well  known  'that  on  these  occasions  they  doubled 
their  vigilance  and  exercised  unusual  circumspection  in 
regard  to  every  movement,  on  account  of  the  innumerable 
multitudes  of  people  then  collected  together  in  the  city. 
Indeed,  history  furnishes  us  with  proof,  that  no  person 
would  have  been  less  likely  to  delay  the  forcible  suppres- 
sion of  any  thing  resembling  sedition  than  Pilate,  who  was 
Roman  procurator  at  that  time.*  This  notwithstanding, 
the  Roman  guards  remained  quiet  in  their  places,  when  Je- 
sus entered  the  temple,  and  Pilate  had  no  knowledge  of  Je- 
sus until  he  saw  him  brought  before  the  judgement  seat,  and 
accused  there  by  the  Jewish  priests.  So  decisive  is  this 
circumstance,  that  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  who  reflects 
upon  it  and  is  acquainted  with  the  state  of  those  times,  any 
longer  to  think  of  construing  Christ's  entrance  into  Jerusa- 
lem into  any  thing  like  the  appearance  of  an  insurrection 
and  an  attempt  at  violent  measures.  The  indifference  of 
the  Romans  in  this  case,  is  at  least  not  a  matter  of  aston- 
ishment.! It  was  not  uncommon  for  strangers  who  came 
up  to  Jerusalem  at  the  feast,  to  travel  in  great  companies, 
and  thus  enter  the  city.J  It  is  not  very  improbable  that 
animated  songs  were  frequently  made  use  of  on  such  occa- 
sions.§     The  Romans,  therefore,  doubtless  looked  upon 

*  For  examples,  vid.  Luke  13: 1,  and  Joseph.  Antiq.,  1.  XVIII.  c.  3. 
§2. 

t  [It  may  also  be  observed  that  the  Romans  had  been  accustomed 
to  similar  entrances  in  other  cases.  Vid.  Cicero  pro  Muraena,  c.  33.] 

t  Besides,  this  mode  of  travelling  has  been  universally  common  in 
those  regions.  Luke,  2:  44,  unquestionably  speaks  in  express  terms 
of  such  a  caravan  of  the  Galileans  returning  from  the  feast.  From 
the  accounts  given  us  by  the  Evangelists  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  it  may 
also  be  frequently  observed,  that  the  multitudes  which  sought  Jesus 
for  the  purpose  of  hearing  him,  were  always  the  most  numerous 
about  the  time  of  the  feast,  evidently  because  many  had  collected  to- 
gether on  their  way  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  were  retufning  in  large 
companies. 

§  Many  interpreters  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  collection  of 
the  P saints  of  degrees  so  called,  were  designed  for  such  travelling 
iongs.  Comp.  Herder,  Vom  Geist  der  hebraischen  Poesie,  Th.  II. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  63 

the  entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  as  nothing  more  than 
that  of  a  company  of  strangers,  it  being  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  such  companies  coming  up  to  the  feast  of  the 
passover  about  this  time,  and  consequently  felt  no  need  of 
making  any  movement.  To  all  this  it  may  be  add- 
ed, that  in  the  evening,  Jesus  voluntarily  left  the  temple,* 
which  he  had  in  his  possession,  and  in  which  no  one  dared 
to  oppose  him,  and  returned  without  any  public  atten- 
dants to  Bethany  ;  that  instead  of  concealing  himself  and 
waiting  for  a  suitable  occasion,  (as  one  must  have  done, 
who  had  engaged  in  any  violent  enterprise  and  failed,)  he 
returned  again  to  the  temple  the  very  next  day  in  like 
manner  without  any  public  attendants,  and  continued  to 
teach  there  openly  among  the  people ;  that  when  the  high 
priest  and  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  entered  into 
conversation  with  him  respecting  the  occurrences  of  the 
previous  day,  he  told  them  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  him,  but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  about  tO' 
give  himself  up  to  their  control,  to  be  expelled  and  slain, 
in  which  respect,  he  compared  their  conduct  to  that  of 
some  unprincipled  vine  dressers,  who  rose  up  against  the 
son  of  the  lawful  owner  of  the  vineyard  ;  and  finally,  that 
from  this  time  onward,  his  conversation  among  his  most 
intimate  friends,  was  entirely  made  up  of  farewell  speech- 
es, touching  exhortations  to  steadfastness  during  the  scenes 
before  them,  and  affectionate  consolations,  with  which  he 
connected  various  regulations  having  a  reference  to  his 
death.  Is  it  possible  for  any  one  who  reflects  impartially 
upon  all  this,  longer  to  entertain  a  single  suspicion  respect- 
ing an  event  which  was  the  natural  result  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  Jesus  then  found  himself,  or  in  it  to  dis- 
cover the  least  indication  that  Jesus  possessed  a  blood- 
thirsty spirit,  and  intended  to  make  use  of  violent  means 
for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes  ? 

But  why  am  I  so  prolix  ?     A  spirit  capable  of  such  en- 

S.  367.    [Jahn,  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,  translated  by  W. 
and  Turner,  §  178.    Tr.] 

*  The  importance  of  this  circumstance  has  been  shown  by  Micbae- 
lis  in  his  notes  to  the  New  Testament,  Th.  1.  S.  212,  213. 


84 

largement  of  thought,  such  benevolent  views  and  feelings, 
as  to  form  a  plan  for  the  good  of  all  men,  such  as  that, 
the  compass  and  character  of  which  I  have  already  de- 
scribed, was  surely  incapable  of  descending  so  low  as  to 
act  the  part  of  a  miserable  rebel,  and  form  the  puny,  cun- 
ning plan  which  many  would  fain  attribute  to  him  in  the 
affair  which  I  have  just  considered.  A  spirit  of  such 
greatness  could  not  possibly  have  failed  to  perceive,  that 
such  a  violent  mode  of  proceeding,  in  the  execution  of  a 
plan  for  the  happiness  and  improvement  of  mankind,  would 
defeat  the  very  object  for  which  it  was  intended.  Jesus 
therefore  could  never  have  thought  of  removing  the  ob- 
stacles that  lay  in  the  way  of  his  undertakings,  by  force  or 
warlike  measures. 


Jesds  did  not  think  of  employing  a  secret  society. 

§  43.  Perhaps,  however,  Jesus  intended  to  put  the  hid- 
den springs  of  a  secret  society  in  motion,  and  by  a  gentle, 
imperceptible  compulsion,  to  reduce  mankind  to  the 
order  which  I  have  already  described.  In  the  history  of 
human  opinions,  it  may  be  observed,  that  every  age  is 
more  or  less  inclined  to  justify  its  own  taste,  undertakings, 
and  decisions,  by  considering  the  greatest  men  of  preced- 
ing ages  as  the  authors  of  those  views,  institutions,  and 
modes  of  thinking,  which  it  greatly  favors,  and  particular- 
ly esteems.  It  is  certainly  very  flattering  to  discover  our- 
selves in  the  same  way  with  men  who  have  been  the  ad- 
miration of  centuries,  and  be  able  to  pretend  that  we  only 
follow  them,  and  set  forth  what  has  been  received  from 
them.  This  age  has  long  been  entangled  in  the  most  cu- 
rious tissue  of  secret  societies  and  brotherhoods.*     In  it, 

*  [Thus  might  Reinhard  express  himself  in  1798,  when  that  tissue 
had  been  broken  up  and  brought  into  the  greatest  disgrace  ;  where- 
as in  the  preceding  edition,  published  in  1789, he  was  obliged  to  say, 

"  an  age  which  contains  a  most  curious  tissue  of societies." 

The  persons  to  whom  he  particularly  refers,  are,  Adam  Weishaupt, 
the  founder  of  the  order  of  the  Illuminati,  as  a  higher  degree  of  Ma- 
sonry, who  defended  his  principles  in  his  Apologie  der  Illuminaten, 
NUrnberg,  1786;  im  Pythagoras,  od.  Betrachtt.  ueber  die  geheime 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  85 

the  idea  has  long  prevailed,  and  obtained  many  acute  de- 
fenders and  friends,  that,  for  a  man  to  accomplish  his  be- 
nevolent views  by  the  invisible  power  of  secret  institutions, 
is  not  only  lawful,  but  great  and  exalted,  and  a  sure  sign  of 
a  comprehensive  and  intelhgent  mind.  It  is  no  wonder 
therefore,  that  this  age  has  hit  upon  the  opinion,  that  the 
author  of  Christianity  intended  also  to  avail  himself  of 
such  means ;  for  it  is  not  difficult  to  stick  close  to  a  great 
man  of  antiquity,  and  yet  interpret  his  undertakings  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  them  tally  in  some  measure 
with  modern  institutions,  especially  when  one  expects  to 
derive  advantage  from  the  comparison,  and  is  willing  to 
indulge  in  bold  explanations,  making  conjectures,  and  add- 
ing supplements,  as  well  as  assume  that  confident  and  de- 
cisive tone  with  which  many  writers  of  the  present  day, 
are  accustomed  to  speak  of  ancient  history.  In  such  a 
way,  and  by  the  use  of  such  arts,  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  find  the  traces  of  a  secret  fraternity  even  in  the  writings 
of  Christ's  friends  ; — a  fraternity  ,by  means  of  which,  he 
intended  to  carry  his  plan  into  execution,  and  the  real,  in- 
ternal character  of  which,  it  would  be  impossible  ever  to  as- 
certain. Hence,  as  is  well  known,  some  have  begun  to  ex- 
plain numerous  passages  of  Scripture  in  favor  of  the  hypo- 
thesis of  a  secret  order,  to  discover  fragments  of  its  symbol- 
ical language  in  the  expressions  of  the  apostles,  to  distin- 
guish its  various  degrees,  and  to  impute  to  Jesus  secrets  en- 
tirely foreign  from  the  object  which  he  had  in  view.*    It  is 

Welt-  und  Regierungs-Kunst,  1790,  and  in  other  writings.  Comp. 
Schlozer,  Staats-Anzeigen,  XII.  2C3 — 279;  Berliner  Monatsschrift, 
1785,  Octob.,  Novemb.,  and  Decemb. ;  and  Barriiel,  Memoires  pour 
servir  a  I'histoire  du  Jacobinisme,  Tom.  IV.  and  V.,  ed.  Hamb.,  1803, 
or  the  whole  of  the  4th  volume  in  the  German  translation  ; — and 
Bahrdt,  as  the  founder  of  the  Union  of  the  22,  which  was  disclosed 
by  Bode  in  the  work ;  Mehr  Noten  als  Text,  oder  die  Deutsche  Union 
der  22er,  eines  neuen  geheimen  Ordens  zum  Besten  der  Menschheit, 
L.  1789;  not  to  say  any  thing  of  those  who  were  accused  of  being 
secretly  connected  with  the  Jesuits,  and  of  Crypto-Catholicism.] 

*  [It  is  well  known  that  Bahrdt  has  done  this  likewise,  both  in  the 
work  quoted  above,  p.  6,  and  in  the  notes  added  to  his  third  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament.  Respecting  the  latest  attempt  that  has 
been  made  to  deduce  the  establishment  of  Christianity  from  a  secret 
order,  vid.  Appendix  C] 
8 


86  SKETCH  OP  Christ's  plan 

against  my  will  to  enter  upon  the  examination  of  these  bold 
conjectures,  which,  notwithstanding  their  great  improbabili- 
ty, such  an  age  as  ours  is  very  ready  to  believe,  as  I  foresee, 
that,  in  spite  of  my  anxious  efforts  to  be  short,  it  will  in- 
volve me  in  a  disagreeable  prolixity.  It  is  manifest,  how- 
ever, that  if  the  supposition  of  which  I  am  speaking  were 
true,  it  would  have  been  essentially  connected  with  Christ's 
plan.  For  this  reason,  I  shall  give  it  a  faithful  examination. 
§44.  This  examination  is  attended  with  pecuhar  diffi- 
cuhies.  Hitherto  we  have  been  able  to  maintain  all  that 
we  considered  as  belonging  to  the  plan  of  Jesus,  with  the 
greatest  certainty,  as  every  thing  is  laid  down  in  the  ac- 
counts which  his  friends  have  given  of  him,  in  a  manner 
too  plain  to  be  misapprehended.  Here,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  have  a  subject  to  handle,  which,  from  its  very  nature, 
is  involved  in  ambiguous  obscurity,  and,  in  reference  to 
which,  it  seems  impossible  to  bring  every  thing  to  light. 
For  instance,  we  cannot  justly  require  those  to  establish 
their  assertions  by  perfectly  clear  and  irrefragable  proof, 
who  allege,  that  Jesus  intended  to  accomplish  his  purposes 
chiefly  by  means  of  a  society  of  excellent  men,  who  had 
formed  themselves  into  a  secret  order,  into  the  sublime 
mysteries  of  which,  but  a  few  of  the  great  mass  of  his  or- 
dinary followers,  were  ever  admitted.  If  such  a  society 
ever  existed,  the  very  fact  that  it  was  secret  and  kept  all 
its  affairs  so,  would  render  it  impossible  for  us  to  expect  to 
find  any  thing  more  about  it  in  the  history  of  Christ's  en- 
terprises and  life,  than  passing  hints,  dark  allusions,  and 
ambiguous  remarks.  Had  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment all  belonged  to  such  a  fraternity,  and  been  acquaint- 
ed with  its  ,most  private  concerns,  obliged  as  they  would 
have  been  to  keep  the  whole  affair  a  secret,  they  must  have 
avoided  expressing  themselves  intelligibly  respecting  it,  in 
what  they  wrote  for  public  and  for  general  use.  Every 
thing  that  we  could  look  for,  in  such  a  case,  would  be  sin- 
gle allusions,  incidental  and  ambiguous  assertions,  here  and 
there  a  word  quite  unintelligible  to  all  but  the  initiated, 
and  dark  ceremonies,  seemingly  pointing  to  something 
higher,  veiled  in  secrecy.  He,  therefore,  who  enters  into  a 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  87 

close  investigation  of  this  subject,  enters  a  region  of  to- 
tal uncertainty ;  where  the  opponent  enjoys  the  impor- 
tant advantage  of  appealing  to  every  trifle  in  any  measure 
favorable  to  his  purpose,  and  pointing  out  to  the  inquirer 
in  those  circumstances  with  which  he  thought  himself  per- 
fectly acquainted,  certain  things  which  give  them  a  mys- 
tical character,  while  the  latter  often  finds  himself  un- 
able to  meet  the  former  with  that  clear  and  convin- 
cing reasoning  which  is  desirable,  in  such  an  important 
matter.  It  is  very  difficult,  every  body  knows,  to  form  a 
correct  opinion  of  the  secret  societies  now  in  existence. 
Their  writings  contain  a  multitude  of  passages,  the  actual 
meaning  of  which,  those  not  connected  with  these  frater- 
nities, are  unable  to  discover.  How  difficult  then  would 
it  be  to  explain  the  New  Testament  properly,  on  the  sup- 
position, that  it  was  written  by  the  members  of  such  a  so^ 
ciety  ?  Would  there  be  any  reason  for  astonishment  in 
such  a  case,  to  know,  that  generations  had  read  it  through 
and  through,  without  discovering  any  traces  of  this  secre- 
cy ? — a  secrecy,  which  perhaps  could  be  discovered  only 
by  the  practised  eye  of  one,  who,  from  being  connected 
with  similar  fraternities,  had  acquired  a  more  penetrating 
acumen,  and  a  finer  sensibility  in  regard  to  such  things  ? 
Those  who  read  my  remarks,  will  understand  what  I  say. 
I  am  convinced  from  my  very  heart,  that  Jesus  never  in- 
tended to  carry  his  plan  into  effect  by  means  of  a  secret 
order.  If  however,  upon  investigating  the  subject,  I  should 
find  myself  unable  to  make  this  appear  as  evident  to 
others  as  it  does  to  me ;  if  my  reasoning  does  not  remove 
every  doubt  from  the  mind  of  the  reader,  let  him  remem- 
ber that,  in  such  a  case,  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  any 
thing  more  than  a  high  degree  of  probability,  the  strength 
of  which  will  appear  different  to  different  individuals. 
What  I  have  to  say  will  satisfy  the  unprejudiced.  Those 
who  are  destitute  of  an  honest  love  of  the  truth,  would  not 
be  convinced  by  still  stronger  reasoning. 

§  45.  Every  thing  may  here  be  reduced  to  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  writings  of  Christ's 
friends,  or  the  character  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived, 


r 


88  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

as  developed  by  history,  which  will  justify  an  impartial 
inquirer  in  believing,  that  Jesus  was  a  member  or  the 
founder  of  a  secret  order,  and  intended  to  accomplish  the 
great  object  which  he  had  in  view  for  the  improvement  of 
mankind,  by  means  of  its  influence  ?"  If  we  can  show, 
that,  instead  of  there  being  any  thing  extant,  which  can 
justly  be  construed  into  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
society,  there  are  circumstances  and  things,  which  evident- 
ly contradict  the  supposition  that  Jesus  intended  to  make 
use  of  such  means,  we  shall  be  constrained  to  consider 
the  whole  allegation  respecting  such  a  fraternity,  as  it  is, 
an  empty  fiction. 

That  there  is  no  account  extant,  which,  in  express  and 
unambiguous  language,  proves  that  Jesus  was  a  member  or 
the  founder  of  a  secret  order,  is  universally  conceded. 
To  be  justified,  therefore,  in  admitting  the  existence  of 
such  a  fraternity  as  a  historical  truth,  we  must  be  able 
to  find  sufficient  traces  of  it,  either  in  the  external  con- 
nexions of  Jesus,  or  in  his  institutions  of  instruction  ;  in 
his  private  life,  the  language  and  expressions  of  his 
friends,  or  in  their  enterprises  after  his  death.  In  none 
of  these  respects,  however,  does  the  least  thing  appear, 
which  goes  to  satisfy  the  unprejudiced  inquirer. 

The  external  connexions  of  Jesus  are  well  known.  He 
was  never  out  of  his  native  country,  except  during  the 
first  months  of  his  life,  in  his  minority,  when  his  parents 
fled  down  into  Egypt.  We  must  adhere  to  pure  fiction 
in  direct  opposition  to  all  the  accounts  extant,  or  admit 
that  this  stay  of  Jesus  in  Egypt  was  very  short,  and  that 
his  parents  returned  again  to  Palestine  before  the  first 
years  of  his  childhood  had  passed  away,  and  consequently, 
before  he  was  capable  of  learning  any  thing  in  Egypt,  if 
we  admit  that  there  was  any  thing  there  for  him  to  learn. 
Now  Palestine,  the  land  in  which  Jesus  grew  up,  was,  of 
all  countries,  the  freest  from  mysteries ;  and  the  Jewish  na- 
tion to  which  he  belonged,  knew  less  than  any  other  nation 
about  secret  associations.     A  certain  writer*  has  indeed 

*  Comp.  the  work  [by  Carl  Leonhard  Reinhold,]  entitled,  Die 
■hebraischen  Mysterien,  oder  die  alteste  religiose  Freymaurerey, 
Leipz.,  1788. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.        f|  TJ  JJliPEUSI* 

afRrmed,  that  the  whole  Mosaic  religion  wasl^a^^iatio^l;^  vr.'^'V*^ 
into  mysteries,  the  principal  forms  and  regulSfe^^;6f'-'  '"^^*^ .,- 
which  were  borrowed  by  Moses  from  the  secrets  oftEe 
old  Egyptians ;  but  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  sally  of 
thought,  dressed  up  in  an  ingenious  manner,  and  is  obvi- 
ously opposed  to  the  whole  character  of  religious  myste- 
ries as  they  existed  among  the  other  nations  of  antiquity.* 
An  appeal  might  be  made  to  the  Essenes  merely  with 
some  appearance  of  truth,  in  order  to  show  that  secret  as- 
sociations were  not  altogether  unknown  to  the  Jews  in  the 
time  of  Christ.  This  sect  was  then  found  in  Palestine, 
and  it  certainly  bore  evident  marks  of  being  a  society 
which  possessed  particular  secrets.  Hence,  every  one  who 
was  admitted  into  it,  was  obliged  to  pledge  himself  by 
taking  a  solemn  oath,  that  he  would  keep  these  secrets  in 
the  most  careful  manner  ;t  and  so  great  was  the  reserve  of 
its  members  in  this  respect,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  ever 
escaped  from  them  ;  for  which  reason  we  are  unable  to 
say  in  what  these  secrets  consisted.  The  supposition, 
however,  that  Jesus  was  connected  with  this  sect,  is  not 
only  destitute  of  all  historical  foundation,  but  the  life,  doc- 
trines, and  institutions  of  Jesus,  are  so  entirely  at  variance 
with  the  opinions  and  moral  habits  of  these  enthusiasts, 
that,  though  he  has  never  expressly  named  them,  it  is  ev- 
ident that  he  actually  opposed  their  extravagant  principles, 
and  guarded  his  followers  against  them.  J     Besides,  it  is 

*  The  few  remarks  made  by  Eichhorn  in  his  notice  of  this  work, 
Allgemeine  Bibliothek  der  biblischen  Litteratur,  Bd.  I,  S.  750  ff., 
furnish  a  sufficient  refutation. 

t  Comp  Josephus,  De  Bell.  Jud.,  1.  II.  c.  8.  §  7,  Havercamp's  ed. 
[Whiston's,  the  same.     Tr.] 

+  To  be  convinced  of  this,  one  has  only  to  examine  what  Philo  and 
Josephus  have  related  of  this  sect  very  much  in  detail,  and  the  re- 
marks connected  with  it,  in  Prideaux's  Histoire  des  Juifs,  Tom.  IV. 
p.  T8— 119;  [in  the  quarto  ed.,  Tom.  II.  p.  166— 180,  Amst.,  1744; 
in  the  German  translation,  Connexion  des  A.  und  N.  Test,  mit  der 
Geschichte,  Th.  2.  S.  422—451,  Dresden,  1721  ;]  [in  English,  Pri- 
deaux's  Connexion,  Vol.  III.  p.  406,  Lond.  1808.  Tr.  ;]  and  Lader- 
wald's  treatise,  Ueber  der  angeblichen  Ursprung  des  Christenthums 
aus  der  jOdischen  Secte  der  Essaer,  in  Hencke's  Magazin  fUr  Reli- 
gionsphilosophie,  Exegese  und  Kirchengeschichte,  Bd.  IV.  St.  II, 
Abh.  XVI.     [For  more  upon  the  subject,  vid.  Appendix  C] 

8* 


90 

worthy  of  J*"emark,  that  Jesus  never  visited  the  region 
where  the  main  body  of  these  hermits  dwelt,  which  was 
along  the  western  coast  of  the  Dead  Sea.*  This  small 
sect  excepted,  which  did  not  number  over  4,000  members, 
we  do  not  find  the  least  trace  of  a  secret  order  among  the 
people  with  whom  Jesus  lived,  or  any  indications  of  an 
inclination  for  such  fraternities.  It  is  certain,  therefore, 
that  the  external  connexions  of  Jesus  did  not  favor  the 
formation  of  such  an  order.  Any  other  nation  and  coun- 
try would  have  presented  him  with  far  more  inducements 
and  far  greater  facilities  for  the  purpose. f 

§  46.  Moreover,  had  Jesus  intended  to  operate  in  this 
way,  we  should  undoubtedly  find  something  indicative  of 
it  in  his  institutions  of  instruction  ;  something  from  which 
we  might  infer,  with  an  appearance  of  probability,  that  he 
was  either  a  member  or  the  founder  of  a  secret  society. 
We  search  here  also  in  vain  for  circumstances  in  confir- 
mation of  the  one  or  the  other.  For  how  can  it  be  prov- 
ed that  Jesus  was  directed  or  impelled  in  the  performance 
of  his  work  by  a  secret  society  ?  Would  not  the  whole 
supposition,  that  Jesus  found  such  a  society  in  existence 
of  which  to  become  a  public  tool,  be  altogether  destitute 
of  historical  foundation  ?  Do  the  enterprises  of  Jesus  ex- 
hibit the  least  traces  of  his  ever  having  acted  otherwise 
than  according  to  his  own  independent  will,  or  ever  hav- 
ing been  obliged  in  the  first  place,  to  hold  consultation 
with  some  other  person  ?  Did  he  not  in  every  instance 
decide  all  alone  and  upon  the  spot?  Does  not  every 
step  that  he  took  bear  such  marks  of  resolute  determi- 
nation as  to  convince  any  one,  that  he  did  not  regulate 
his  conduct  by  others,  nor  look  to  others  for  direction, 
nor  feel  responsible  to  man  ?    Does  he  ever  hint  that  he 

*  Vid.  Pliny,  His.  Nat.,  1.  IV.  c.  13. 

t  The  Egyptian  Therapeutae,  of  whose  mysteries  and  regulations 
Philo  so  frequently  speaks,  do  not  belong  to  this  place,  as  it  cannot 
be  proved  that  they  had  the  least  connexion  with  Jesus,  and  they 
did  not  possess  even  the  constitution  of  a  regular  secret  society. 
Eichhorn,  Bibliothek  der  biblischen  Litteratur,  Bd.  IV.  S.  775  fF. 
[Comp.  Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  1.  78—80.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  -  91 

had  been  endowed  with  full  powers  and  sent  on  his  mes- 
sage by  any  other  being  than  God  ? 

From  his  institutions  of  instruction,  it  is  equally  hard 
for  us  to  show  that  he  was  even  the  founder  of  such  an 
order.  It  is  true  that  he  made  various  distinctions  among 
his  followers.  When  he  taught  in  public,  all  men  had  ac- 
cess to  him.  He  never  hesitated  to  speak  before  those 
assemblies  which  contained  his  enemies.  He  had  a  large 
number  of  pupils,  however,  in  close  contact  with  his  person, 
whom  he  could  commission  at  any  time  for  the  perform- 
ance of  his  work.  Among  these  were  seventy  men,  whom, 
when  about  to  make  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  he  sent 
before  him,  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  attention  of  the 
people  to  the  important  change  which  he  was  soon  to  ef- 
fect. Still  more  intimate  was  he  with  the  company  of  the 
twelve  aposdes,  whom  he  chose  at  the  very  commence- 
ment of  his  public  ministry,  and  destined  to  be  the  fu- 
ture executors  of  his  purposes,  and  hence,  kept  always 
about  his  person,  and  made  acquainted  with  almost  every 
step  that  he  took.  Even  in  this  litde  company,  however, 
there  was  a  distinction.  Three  of  the  twelve,  Peter, 
John,  and  James  the  elder,  were  his  most  intimate  dis- 
ciples and  friends,  and  often  permitted  to  accompany 
him,  where  he  thought  it  not  advisable  to  have  the  rest 
of  his  apostles  present.  Will  the  historical  fact,  how- 
ever, that  Jesus  made  such  distinctions  among  his  dis- 
ciples and  friends,  authorize  us  to  conclude  that  he  en- 
gaged in  the  formation  of  a  secret  society  ?  Is  it  possi- 
ble for  us  to  compare  these  distinctions  with  the  degrees 
of  an  order,  without  sporting  with  words  ?  In  making 
these  distinctions,  did  Jesus  do  any  thing  more  than  intel- 
ligent teachers  of  every  age  have  been  obliged  to  do,  and 
what  circumstances  particularly  required  ?  What  sage 
has  not  introduced  certain  distinctions  among  his  pupils, 
permitted  a  select  number  to  have  near  access  to  him, 
and  put  perfect  confidence  in  a  few,  and  associated  them 
with  him  as  his  most  intimate  friends  ?  Does  not  the 
great  difference  between  the  powers,  dispositions,  and  fu- 
ture destinations  of  men,  always  render  such  distinctions 


n 

necessary?  As  Jesus  had  but  little  time  to  spend  in  im- 
parting instruction  himself,  was  it  not  particularly  necessa- 
ry for  him  to  think  upon  this  subject,  and,  out  of  the  great 
jnass  of  men,  rough,  ignorant,  and  usually  blinded  by  pre- 
judice, with  whom  he  was  surrounded,  to  select  a  small 
number  as  soon  as  possible,  and  prepare  them  for  continu- 
ing his  great  work,  by  holding  constant  intercourse  with 
them  and  giving  them  a  more  careful  education  ?  Was  it 
not  the  prevailing  custom  for  other  Jewish  teachers  to  do 
so,  and  was  he  ever  noticed  by  his  countrymen  as  singular 
in  this  respect  ?  Should  any  one,  however,  assume  that 
Jesus  had  other  friends  in  addition  to  those  now  called 
confidants,  who  kept  behind  the  curtain,  and  had  to  act  si- 
lently in  advancing  his  cause,  and  away  from  the  view  of 
the  world,  he  takes  up  with  a  fiction  in  every  respect  des- 
titute of  proof.  Were  it  lawful  to  treat  history  in  such  a 
manner,  it  might  be  shown  with  far  more  appearance  of 
certainty,  that  Socrates,  for  instance,  was  at  the  head  of 
such  a  band,  and  it  would  -be  easy  to  transform  every 
great  man  into  the  director  or  founder  of  some  secret 
order. 

The  mode  of  instruction  employed  by  Jesus,  was  indeed 
regulated  according  to  the  different  characters  of  his  hear- 
ers, to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made ;  but  it  never 
bears  any  mar£s  of  that  intentional  obscurity  and  reserve 
to  be  noticed  in  the  manner  of  those,  who  wish  to  have  it 
understood,  that  they  are  in  the  possession  of  secrets  which 
cannot  be  imparted  to  all.  That  Jesus  often  clothed  the 
truths  which  he  delivered  in  interesting  parables,'^  is  read- 
ily admitted.  He  did  so,  however,  ]3ecause  the  people 
were  accustomed  to  this  mode  of  instruction,  and  more 
easily  excited  by  it  to  due  reflection  upon  what  they  heard  ; 
but  especially,  because  it  enabled  him  to  say  many  things 

*  Vid.  Vitringa,  De  Synag.  Vet.,  1.  III.  p.  1.  c.  5.  [Compare  also 
the  excellent  treatise  by  the  worthy  pupil  and  friend  of  Reinhard, 
Superint.  Wilh.  Christ.  Gottl.  Weise,  of  Hertzberg,  Diss,  de  more 
Domini  acceptos  a  magistris  Judaicis  loquendi  ac  disserendi  modos 
sapienter  emendandi,  quam  praeside  Reinhardo  publ.  def.,  Viteb,^ 
1792,  ab  auctore  recognita  et  multis  augmentis  locupleta  in  Velthu- 
sen  etc.  Commentatt.  Theolog.,  Vol.  V.  nr.  8.  p.  117—197.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  93 

in  a  way  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  attentive  and  unpre- 
judiced listener,  but  which  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
did  not  understand,*  and  would  have  misapprehended  and 
abused,  had  they  been  uttered  in  plain  language.  These 
parables,  however,  concealed  no  meaning  with  which  it 
was  not  every  man's  business  to  become  acquainted. 
They  merely  embodied  the  instructions,  views,  and  repre- 
sentations, to  which  the  men  of  that  age  were  unaccustom- 
ed, and  which  stood  in  strong  opposition  to  prevailing  pre- 
judices. These  were  the  secrets  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
which  the  mixed  multitude  were  as  yet  unable  to  receive 
without  the  disguise  of  imagery,  and  which  were  therefore 
laid  by  Jesus  in  the  first  place,  before  his  intimate  disciples. 
However  attentively  we  examine  the  figurative  narratives 
of  Jesus  which  have  been  preserved  by  the  Evangelists, 
not  one  of  them  will  be  found  to  contain  any  traces  of 
mysterious  references  to  secret  enterprises  and  institutions, 
or  any  thing  more  than  those  doctrines,  which,  as  soon  as 
his  entire  history  was  sufficiently  developed,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  the  vain  expectations  entertained  by  the  Jewish 
nation  had  been  corrected,  were  delivered  in  public,  and 
imparted  to  -every  adherent  of  Christianity.  It  would  be 
very  unjust  in  any  one  to  blame  Jesus  for  accommodating 
himself  to  the  circumstances  and  necessities  of  his  fellow 
citizens  and  friends,  by  letting  himself  down  to  their  weak 
capacities,  and  passing  over  many  things  in  silence,  which, 
in  the  progress  of  his  great  work,  would  become  intelligi- 
ble of  themselves.  The  wisest  men  of  every  age  have 
looked  upon  such  a  benevolent  condescension  as  necessary, 
and  practised  it,  in  imparting  truth.  He,  however,  who, 
from  Christ's  condescension  in  this  respect,  should  infer 
that  he  taught  in  this  way,  out  of  compliance  with  the  laws 
and  regulations  imposed  upon  him  by  a  secret  society, 
would  evidently  allow  himself  to  jump  at  a  conclusion,  as 
every  thing  peculiar  to  his  mode  of  teaching,  can  be  ren- 
dered perfectly  intelligible  without  this  supposition. 

*  Comp.  Hess,  Ueber  die  Lehren,  Thaten  und  Schichsale  unsers 
Harm,  Abschn.  VI.  S.  175  if.,  [according  to  the  edition  of  1806,  B. 
II.  Abschn.  VII.  S.  3 — 46;]  and  Storr,  Opuscula  Academica,  Tom. 
I.  diss.  II.  p.  89  seqq. 


94 

Finally,  some  have  endeavored  to  explain  away  the 
miracles  connected  with  Christ's  institutions  of  instruction, 
of  which  accounts  are  given  by  the  Evangelists,  by  con- 
sidering them   as  the  effects  of  certain  physical  secrets, 
which  he  is  said  to  have  possessed,  and  is  conjectured 
to  have  obtained  from  some  secret  order,  and   declaring 
them  the  contrivanciss  of  his  most  private  friends,  who,  by 
various  preparations  unknown  to  the  apostles,  may,  it  is 
thought,  have  accomplished  that,  which,  though  perfectly 
natural,  would  have  appeared  miraculous  to  those  who 
saw  not  the  machinery.     None  of  this  conjecturing,  how- 
ever, is  worth  the  trouble  of  an  answer.      The  fictitious 
means,  which,  in  this  case,  Jesus  is  said  to  have  employed 
for  restoring  heahh  to  the  sick,  must  have  possessed  a 
power,  no  less  wonderful  than  that  which  this  supposition 
is  designed  to  obviate.      But  what  kind  of  a  heart  and 
judgement  and  what  views  must  that  man  have,  who  can 
think  it  probable  that  even  Jesus,  devoted  as  his  life  was 
to  the  accomplishment  of  the  exalted  and   divine  object, 
the  character  of  which  I  have  described,  should  descend  to 
juggling, — who  can  attempt  to  explain  away  a  great  part 
of  his  miracles  by  supposing  them  .to  have  been  perform- 
ed by  the  secret  machinery  of  an  intimate  order  of  broth- 
erhood, and  dare  to  think  him  capable  of  degrading  him- 
self so  far  as  to  engage  in  the  miserable  artifices  of  leg- 
erdemain !  So  senseless  and  constrained  is  the  entire  rep- 
resentation w^hich  some  late  writers  have  given  of  Christ's 
miracles  in  this  respect,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have 
endeavored  to  explain  them  away,  that  not  another  word 
need  be  said  upon  the  subject.*  /  Enough  !  there  is  noth- 

*  [So  judged  Reinhard  in  1789  and  1798  ;  and  so  he  judged  also 
after  the  appearance  of  Paulus'  Commentary.  I  here  give  his  opin- 
ion in  this  respect  as  it  was  printed  from  a  letter  in  his  own  hand- 
writing :  "  What  shall  I  say  of  the  fat  commentary  of  the  Pseudo- 
Paul  ?  Knoll  and  Spinoza,  the  most  boyish  remarks  respecting  the 
Greek  text,  avid  the  most  audacious  and  childish  mode  of  reasoning 
respecting  the  contents  of  the  N.  Test.,  are,  in  this  work,  connected 
and  mingled  together  in  so  curious  a  manner,  as  to  leave  the  whole 
circle  of  literature  no  chance  of  ever  again  producing  the  like.  The 
tone  in  which  the  praise  of  this  monster  of  philology  and  philos- 
ophy has  been  trumpeted,  is  one  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  affords 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN*  95 

ing  in  our  Saviour's  public  institutions  of  instruction,  which 
can  justify  us  in  supposing,  that  he  was  either  a  member 
or  thie  founder  of  a  secret  society. 

§  47.  There  is  as  little  to  be  found  in  confirmation  of 
the  supposition,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  private 
life  of  Jesus.  Respecting  the  business  in  which  he  was 
engaged  before  he  entered  upon  his  public  ministry, 
there  are  no  accounts  extant,  worthy  of  credit.  Various 
circumstances,  however,  render  it  very  probable  that  he 
neither  connected  himself  with  a  secret  society  nor  found- 
ed one,  before  he  was  30  years  of  age.  Previous  to  the 
time  in  which  he  made  his  appearance  in  public,  his  fel- 
low citizens,  as  well  as  his  nearest  relatives,  unquestionably 
looked  upon  him  as  merely  an  ordinary  man,  and  discov- 
ered in  him  nothing  special  or  extraordinary.  This  is  the 
reason  why  he  was  treated  with  such  contempt  by  the 
people  of  Nazareth,  where  he  had  liv^ed  until  the  com- 
mencement of  his  public  career,  Luke  4:  16 — 30,  and 
why  even  his  relatives  could  not  for  a  long  time  be  con- 
vinced that  he  actually  possessed  any  uncommon  abilities, 
John  7:  1-^5.  Now  just  glance  at  the  results  which 
must  be  deduced  from  these  circumstances.  Had  Jesus 
been  connected  with  any  secret  society  before  he  began 
to  make  himself  known  to  the  world,  he  would  have  found 
it  difficult  to  prevent,  at  least  those  relatives  who  daily  as- 
sociated with  him,  and  in  whose  business  he  was  constantly 
engaged,  from  taking  notice  of  him  in  this  respect.  It  is 
impossible  to  maintain  such  connexions,  without  doing 
many  things,  or  causing  many  things  to  be  done,  which  at- 
tract the  attention  of  others,  and  excite  in  them  the  be- 

a  proof,  that  we  are  not  sufficiently  learned  to  interpret  the  Scriptures 
in  a  real,  grammatical  manner,  nor  modest  enough  to  philosophize 
upon  them  with  propriety.  Even  this  commentator,  however,  has 
failed  in  his  attempt  completely  to  naturalize  Christianity,  and  put 
every  thing  that  it  contains  of  a  supernatural  character,  out  of  view. 
Still,  the  evil  which  he  will  do  in  this  respect,  is  not  to  be  overlooked; 
as  he  confessedly  possesses  a  certain  acuteness,  which  enables  him 
to  dress  up  the  most  contorted  exegesis,  and  is  exactly  adapted  to 
blind  our  dear,  theological  youth,  ignorant,  as  they  are,  of  philolog- 
ical studies,  and  fonder  of  philosophizing  than  explaining  from  the 
usus  loquendi,  and  lead  them  entirely  astray."} 


96 

lief  that  such  an  one  has  something  special  in  his  mind. 
With  all  the  conveniences  and  means  which  we  now  have 
at  command  for   concealing  our  connexions  with  others 
from  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  divesting  them  of  all  ap- 
pearance of  strangeness,  we  find  it  very  difiicult  to  keep 
every  thing  secret.     And  would  not  Jesus,  a  man  in  the 
common  walks  of  life,  destitute  of  all  these  conveniences 
and  means,  and  known  to  the  whole  village  where  he  lived, 
have  unavoidably  been  an  object  of  special  inquisitiveness 
to  his  fellow  citizens,  at  least  to  his  relatives  and  family 
friends,  if  he  had  maintained  a  correspondence  involved 
in  so  many  difficulties  from  the  circumstances  of  that  age  ; 
if,  from  time  to  time,  he  had  withdrawn  himself  from  those 
around  him,  performed  journeys,  received  visits  from  stran- 
gers, or  excited  the  least  suspicion  in  any  way  whatever, 
that  he  had  distant  acquaintances,  and  held  intercourse 
with  those  whose  views  and  characters  were  an  impenetra- 
ble mystery  ?     And  would  not  all  these  circumstances  have 
been  far  more  likely  to  strike  the  eyes,  if  Jesus  had  gone 
about  the  formation  of  a  secret  society  during  the  first 
thirty  years  of  his  life  ?     Is  it  possible  to  accomplish  such 
an  object  without  associating  and  connecting  one's  self  with 
various  descriptions  of  men  ?      Persons  of  such  views  and 
feelings  as  Jesus  had,  are  very  rare.      To  discover  such 
confidants,  therefore,  as  Jesus  is  conjectured  to  have  pos- 
sessed, would  it  not  have  been  necessary  for  him  to  enter 
into  the  most  careful  trials,  and   laborious  examinations, 
and  associate  with  all  classes  of  people  in  the  diiFerent  em- 
ployments of  life  ?  Connected  as  this  great  work  must  have 
been,  with   numerous  journeys,   inquiries,   arrangements, 
and  external  changes,  would  not  somebody  in  Nazareth, 
at  least  some  of  his  near  relatives,  have  perceived  that  he 
was  engaged  in  it  ?     Would  not  Jesus  have  been  obliged 
to  give  it  a  degree  of  importance  in  the  eyes  of  those  that 
associated  with  him,  previous  to  his  entrance  upon  his  pub- 
lic duties  ? 

From  the  commencement  of  his  public  career,  Jesus  liv- 
ed almost  incessantly  before  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  un- 
der a  pressure  of  labors,  dangers,  and  cares,  in  which,  Jie 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  .97 

coald  find  but  a  very  few  hours  for  withdrawing  himself 
entirely  from  the  multitudes  that  followed  after  him. 
Of  course,  he  had  no  time  left  to  think  of  the  forma- 
tion of  a  secret  society.  It  was  completely  filled  up 
by  him,  in  imparting  instruction,  healing  the  sick,  at- 
tending carefully  to  the  education  of  his  aposdes,  and  in 
the  performance  of  journeys  in  their  company  or  that  of 
numerous  crowds.  During  this  period,  indeed,  he  was 
far  too  much  the  object  of  public  curiosity  and  attention, 
and  too  generally  in  a  throng,  even  to  hold  intercourse 
with  a  secret  society  without  being  noticed,  provided 
there  had  already  been  one  in  existence.  It  is  true 
that  he  sometimes  left  his  apostles,  and,  retiring  into  soli- 
tary places,  spent  whole  nights  all  alone,  Luke  6:  12  ; 
but  will  this  fact  authorize  us  to  conjecture,  that  these 
moments  were  set  apart  for  intercourse  with  confiden- 
tial friends  with  whom  he  was  never  seen  to  have  any 
connexion  in  public  ?  What  great  men  have  not  found 
it  necessary  occasionally  to  separate  themselves  from  the 
crowd  and  retire  into  solitude,  in  order  to  recruit  them- 
selves by  reflection  and  the  enjoyment  of  repose  away 
from  the  pressure  of  business  ?*  Does  any  one  feel  autho- 
rized to  infer  that  they  did  so  for  the  purpose  of  holding 
intercourse  with  secret  societies  ?  If  this  be  improbable 
with  regard  to  men,  who  spent  many  hours  in  solitude, 
why  should  we  conjecture  it  to  be  true  with  regard  to  Je- 
sus ?  Did  he  not  also  occasionally  find  such  retirement 
necessary  ?  He  was  compelled  ta  withdraw  and  conceal 
himself  when  restless  crowds  wished  to  place  him  at  their 
head,  and  excite  an  insurrection,  John  6:  15.  Not  even 
the  apostles,  who  almost  always  remained  near  by,  ever 
suspected  that  on  such  occasions,  he  retired  into  solitary 
places,  in  order  to  hold  intercourse  with  confidential,  and 
to  them  unknown  friends.  On  the  other  hand,  they  ex- 
pressly assert,  that  these  precious  moments  were  spent  in 
contemplations,  for  which  he  could  find  no  time  in  the  tu- 

*   Comp.  Zimmermann,  Ueber  die  Einsamkeit,  Tli.  1.  S.  49  fF 
[Zimmermann's  Solitude,  Part  I.  p.  43  seqq.,Lond.,  1804.  Tr.] 

9 


98  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

mult  of.business ; — in  self-repose,  in  collecting  his  thoughts, 
and  raising  his  heart  to  God.  In  a  single  instance,  they 
inform  us,  that  he  was  visited  at  Jerusalem  in  the  night  by 
a  ruler  of  the  Jews  called  Nicodemus,  John  3:  2.  Nico- 
demus,  however,  was  not  at  that  time  one  of  Christ's  fol- 
lowers, it  being  his  chief  object  to  form  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  him  by  means  of  conversation  ;  and  we 
know  what  was  done  at  this  visit,  which  was  made  per- 
haps in  the  presence  of  the  apostles,  from  the  account 
given  of  it  by  John.  There  is  room  indeed  to  conjecture 
that  the  forty  days,  passed  by  Jesus  in  the  wilderness,  about 
the  remarkable  time  of  his  entrance  upon  his  pubHc  minis- 
try, were  spent  in  holding  intercourse  with  secret  associa- 
tions, but  there  is  room  for  nothing  more,  as  the  Evange- 
lists make  no  mention  of  any  such  thing.  Besides,  it 
.should  be  remembered,  that  history  contains  many  exam- 
ples of  men  who  have  retired  in  like  manner  preparatory 
to  entering  upon  important  business  ;  that  as  Jesus  was 
now  about  to  make  his  appearance  in  public,  it  was  in 
some  measure  necessary  for  him  to  break  away  from  the 
connexions  among  whom  he  had  lived,  and  retire  awhile 
from  the  view  of  men  in  order  to  make  the  commence- 
ment of  his  public  ministry  the  more  remarkable ;  and  final- 
ly, that  as  he  was  about  to  leave  common  occupations 
and  engage  in  one  of  the  noblest,  most  exalted  of  callings, 
such  a  space  of  time  was  devoutly  to  be  desired,  for  col-_ 
lecting  his  thoughts  and  for  quiet  reflection.  With  this 
view  of  the  subject  before  us,  it  is  easy  to  show  why  Je- 
sus withdrew  from  the  eyes  of  men  without  resorting  to  a 
supposition  grounded  upon  a  mere  conjecture. 

§  48.  I  come  now  to  the  language  and  mode  of  ex- 
pression to  be  met  with  in  the  writings  of  Christ's  apostles. 
It  is  certain  that  these  men  before  the  death  of  Jesus,  were 
incapable  of  becoming  the  members  of  such  a  secret  fra- 
ternity as  that  must  have  been,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
engaged  in  the  execution  of  Christ's  undertakings.  He 
therefore,  who  maintains  that  a  secret  fraternity  existed, 
must  admit  that  they  were  not  initiated  into  its  genuine 
mysteries  nor  made  acquainted  with  its  internal  character, 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  99 

until  after  that  event.  So  far  are  some  from  denying  this, 
that  they  have  even  begun  to  point  out  expressions  and 
modes  of  representation  in  reference  to  the  fact,  which  are 
to  be  considered  as  fragments  of  the  old  symbolical  lan- 
guage of  the  order.  As  the  number  of  phrases  brought 
forward  to  be  explained  upon  this  hypothesis  is  very  great, 
it  camiot  be  expected  that  I  should  enter  upon  a  particular 
examination  of  them  with  reference  to  this  subject.  A 
few  general  reflections  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  utter 
groundlessness  of  this  supposition,  and  its  direct  oppositon 
to  the  principles  of  correct  interpretation. 

There  are  but  two  cases  in  which  any  one,  who  would 
avoid  total  uncertainty  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  the 
ancient  writings  that  have  come  down  to  us,  can  be 
justified  in  searching  an  ancient  author  for  allusions  to 
secret  associations,  and  for  symbolical,  arbitrary,  and 
conventional  modes  of  speech,  peculiar  to  some  order. 
The  first  is,  when  there  are  unquestionable  accounts  ex- 
tant, which  prove  that  he  was  in  reality  the  member  of 
such  a  society,  and  treated  of  subjects  relating  to  it  in 
his  works ;  the  second,  when  his  words  cannot  be  ration- 
ally explained  in  any  other  way  than  upon  the  supposition 
that  they  have  a  secret  meaning.  If  an  interpreter  were 
permitted  to  search  for  the  language  of  a  secret  order 
without  being  obliged  to  do  so,  or  being  justified  in  the  act, 
either  by  history  or  the  nature  of  the  case,  by  internal  or 
external  reasons,  it  would  be  very  easy  to  transform  every 
ancient  writer  into  the  member  of  some  secret  fraternity 
and  discover  mystical  symbols  in  his  expressions.  Now, 
by  applying  these  principles,  universally  admitted  to  be 
correct,  to  the  writings  of  the  apostles,  it  will  be  easy  to 
arrive  at  a  conclusion ;  for  no  real,  historical  evidence  has 
as  yet  been  brought  forward  in  proof  of  the  existence  of 
a  secret  society  to  which  they  may  have  belonged,  and  to 
the  character  of  which  they  may  have, occasionally  alluded 
in  their  writings.  Here,  then,  the  first  circumstance  re- 
quisite to  justify  an  interpreter  in  conjecturing  that  they 
made  use  of  mystical  terms  and  enigmatical  modes  of  ex- 
pression, is  entirely  wanting.     The  same  is  also  true  of 


100  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

the  second ;  for  what  passages  are  there  in  the  writings 
of  the  apostles,  which  contain  no  rational  meaning,  ijn- 
less  understood  of  the  mysteries  of  some  secret  or- 
der ?  That  the  style  of  the  apostles  is  in  many  re- 
spects, dark  and  enigmatical  is  perhaps  not  to  be  denied. 
This  is  the  case  however,  merely  because  they  thought, 
and  expressed  themselves  like  Jews.  So  evidently-  does 
their  language  partake  of  the  character  of  that  which  we 
find  in  the  old  Greek  and  Hebrew  writings  of  their  nation, 
that  all  their  obscure  expressions  can  be  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained by  a  reference  to  the  usus  loquendi  of  those  writ- 
ings. The  most  learned  and  acute  interpreters  of  the  N. 
Testament  have  at  all  times  not  only  maintained  this,  but 
exhibited  incontestible  proof  of  it  in  their  works.  And 
this  is  exactly  what  we  should  expect.  It  is  natural  to 
conclude  that  any  man  will  think  and  express  himself  ac- 
cording to  the  mode  prevalent  in  his  nation.  Now  where 
the  resemblance  between  the  usus  loquendi  of  an  author 
and  that  of  the  nation  to  which  he  belonged,  is  so  striking 
as  it  is  in  regard  to  the  apostles,  if  we  suppose  that  he  us- 
ed the  language  in  a  mystical  sense,  we  must  admit  that 
all  other  writers  of  his  nation  used  it  in  the  same  way. 
This  position  however  cannot  be  maintained,  for  it  would 
lead  to  an  absurdity.  Nothing  is  left  therefore  for  us  to 
do,  in  attempting  to  give  an  explanation  of  his  writings,  but 
to  concede  that  he  used  thje  language  in  its  ordinary  accep- 
tation, and  give  up  all  idea  of  searching  after  a  hidden 
sense.  Now  the  ordinary  method  employed  for  ascertain- 
ing the  meaning  of  the  writings  of  the  apostles,  furnishes 
us  with  whatever  is  requisite  to  get  out  of  them  in  all  ca- 
ses a  good  and  connected  sense,  and  discover  in  these 
books  the  most  exalted  truths  of  the  most  excellent  relig- 
ion. What  then  can  justify  an  interpreter  in  subjoining  an- 
other method,  not  only  ahogether  superfluous,  but  grounded 
upon  a  mere  conjecture,  and  too  destitute  of  foundation  to 
be  admitted  into  the  rank  of  a  probable  hypothesis?  U  a 
man  goes  so  capriciously  and  violently  to  work  in  his  inter- 
pretations, all  exegetical  confidence  is  at  an  end,  and  we 
must  admit  that  any  thing  can  be  made  out  of  every  thing, 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  101 

and  consequently  that  the  old  writings  mean  nothing  with 
any  degree  of  certainty. 

§  49.  Farther ;  had  it  in  reality  been  Christ's  intention 
to  employ  a  secret  society  for  carrying  his  great  plan  into 
effect,  we  should  find  some  traces  of  it,  at  least  in  the  un- 
dertakings of  his  friends  after  his  death.  History,  how- 
ever, furnishes  us  with  nothing,  in  justification  of  this  opin- 
ion. If  is  as  clear  as  the  sun,  that,  when  the  friends  of 
Jesus  began  to  teach  and  to  collect  a  church  in  Jerusalem, 
they  had  no  intention  of  constituting  a  secret  order,  op- 
erating in  silence,  and  obliging  those  whom  they  received 
into  their  society,  to  keep  certain  things  concealed.  They 
taught  frankly  and  in  public.  They  did  not  require  those 
who  wished  to  have  access  to  their  meetings,  or  join  their 
body,  to  undergo  a  long  and  careful  trial.  Tliey  some- 
times admitted  several  thousands  as  members  at  once, 
and  did  it  so  directly  in  view  of  the  magistrates,  that 
these  last  found  it  necessary  to  interpose  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  work  at  its  very  commencement,  and  hinder 
the  apostles'  undertakings  by  the  interposition  of  pow€r. 
There  is  not  room  even  for  a  conjecture  that  these  exter- 
nal resuhs  were  the  effects  of  secret  springs,  which,  though 
invisible,  put  every  thing  in  action,  and  kept  it  so.  Jn 
such  a  case  the  apostles  must  have  either  been  members 
of  this  directing  society  and  at  the  same  time  the  execu- 
tors of  its  plans,  or  not  have  belonged  to  it  at  all.  If  we 
take  the  last  position,  we  not  only  assert  something  which 
cannot  be  proved,  (for  how  can  we  ascertain  whether  a 
secret  society  existed  which  could  keep  its  existence  un- 
known to  the  apostles  ?)  but  something  which  is  utterly  im- 
possible. It  is  absolutely  inconceivable  how  the  apostles 
could  have  been  the  mere  tools  of  a  secret  society,  and 
under  obligations  to  act  with  reference  to  the  views  of  oth- 
ers, without  observing  it,  and  feeling  a  direct  dependance 
in  regard  to  the  business  to  which  they  had  devoted  their 
lives.  Were  they,  however,  at  the  same  time,  members 
of  a  secret  order  established  by  Jesus  for  the  execution  of 
his  plan,  we  may  justly  ask,  by  what  circumstances  and 
accounts  this  is  to  be  proved  ?  Why,  in  such  a  case,  do 
9* 


J  02  SKETCH    OF  CHRIST^S  PLAN 

the  undertakings  of  the  apostles  exhibit  no  mofe  regularity 
and  connexion  ?  Why  do  they  allow  themselves  to  be  in- 
fluenced so  much  by  incidental  circumstances  ?  Why  do 
they  not  always  agree  among  themselves,  and  in  all  res- 
pects follow  the  same  rules  ?^  Why  cannot  we  fix  upon 
some  central  point,  from  which  all  management  emanated, 
and  all  the  churches  which  arose  received  commands  for 
the  regulation  of  their  conduct  ?  Finally,  why  do  the  let- 
ters, which  the  aposdes  wrote  with  the  greatest  frankness, 
to  their  confidential  friends  respecting  the  affairs  of  Chris- 
tianity, contain  nothing  which  can  be  referred  to  unnam- 
ed overseers  ? — nothing  which  required  Christians  to  look 
to  some  other  head  than  themselves,  and  robbed  individu- 
al churches  of  their  freedom  and  independance  ?  Is  it 
possible  to  conceive  how  a  society  having  for  its  object  the 
renovation  of  the  whole  human  family,  could  operate  effi- 
caciously without  most  accurately  dividing  the'  immense 
field  of  its  labor,  into  greater  and  smaller  circles,  and  de- 
manding the  strictest  subordination  of  all  its  various  direc- 
tors ?  Where,  however,  is  the  historical  proof,  that  such  a 
well  contrived,  systematic  plan  ever  existed  among  the 
first  Christian  churches  ?  On  the  other  hand,  does  not  ev- 

*  [No  one  will  misunderstand  the  author,  and  stretch  his  asser- 
tions so  far,  as  to  make  him  admit  that  the  apostles  disagreed  among 
themselves,  as  to  the  essentials  of  Christianity,  and  consequently  de- 
viated from  the  doctrines  of  Jesus.  From  this  view  of  the  subject, 
he  was  very  far  removed,  as  a.ny  one  will  perceive,  who  only  reads 
his  sermons,  J.  1798,  Cantate  I.  334;  "That  was  the  genuine 
spirit  of  Christ  which  operated  in  l]is  apostles ;"  and  J.  1803,  the 
three  sermons,  Jubilate,  Cantate,  u.  Rogate,  II.  1  fF. ;  "  How  im- 
portant it  must  be  to  us  that  the  apostles  of  Jesus,  notwithstanding 
all  the  increase  of  their  experience  and  reflection  in  life,  retained  the 
same  dispositions  and  feelings  towards  Jesus  until  death."  The  au- 
thor unquestionably  refers  to  the  difference  which  once  arose  between 
Peter  and  Paul,  Gal.  2:  11  ;  in  which  case,  however,  Peter  by  no 
means  cherished  an  erroneous  conviction  of  the  truth,  (as  he  had 
not  merited  a  severe  censure  from  Paul  but  only  a  gentle  rebuke,) 
but  on  the  other  hand,  under  the  influence  of  the  fear  of  man,  had 
yielded  in  regard  to  his  conviction  of  the  truth,  to  the  dispositions 
and  requisitions  of  the  Jews.  "  Non  enim,"  says  Pope  Felagius  II. 
upon  this  subject,  (Acta  Concill.,  ed.  Harduin,  Tom.  III.  col.  427,) 
"  rautatio  sententiae,  sed  inconstantia  sensus  in  culpa  est."  Res- 
pecting the  different  regulations  of  the  first  Christian  Church,  vid. 
Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  2.  599  ff*.] 


FOR  THE  600D  OF  ALL  MEI^.  103 

ery  thing  that  we  know  respecting  the  condition  of  the 
Christian  church  at  this  time,  contradict  this  supposition  ? 
Nor  will  the  measures  of  the  primitive  Christians  for 
concealing  certain  doctrines  and  sacred  ceremonies,  au- 
thorize us  to  conclude  that  certain  mysterious  regulations 
existed  at  the  times  of  the  apostles  and  their  immediate 
successors;  for  the  origin  of  these  measures  cannot.be 
extended  so  far  back  as  to  the  end  of  the  first  century  ;* 
nor  can  it  ever  be  proved  that  something  was  to  be  con- 
cealed from  the  heathen,  and  the  novices  in  Christianity, 
even  in  compliance  with  apostolical  directions. f  On  the 
contrary,  various  reasons  can  be  drawn  from  history  suffi- 
cient to  show  why  Christians  of  the  second  century,  were 
gradually  induced  to  maintain  a  reserve  in  imparting  their 
instructions,  and  practising  their  sacred  ceremonies. {  The 
supposition  that  they  did  so,  because,  ever  since  the  for- 
mation of  their  societies,  they  had  been  under  the  control 
of  a  secret  order,  or  had  wished  to  be  considered  as  such  an 

*  As  Lessing  has  said,  Theologische  Nachlass,  S.  197  fF.,  with 
which  however  should  be  compared  the  remarks  of  Bingham,  Ori- 
gin. EccL,  Vol.  IV.  p.  119  ff.,  respecting  the  disciplina  arcani  so  call- 
ed, and  its  origin. 

t  That  the  apostles  had  no  such  thing  as  a  secret  doctrine,  which 
they  imparted  to  but  a  few,  is  shown  by  Tertullian,  De  Praescript. 
Haeret.,  c.  25,  26,  [ed.  Rigalt,  Par.,  1641.,  p.  240  seqq.] 

X  Vid.Schrockh,  Christliche  Kirchengeschichte,  Th.  IV.  S.  372ff.; 
[Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  2.  540,  Anmerkung  :  (Speaking  of  the  habit  of 
making  the  use  of  confessions  of  faith  imparted  only  by  word  of 
mouth  to  mean,  that  the  most  sacred  things  cannot  be  committed  to 
writing  or  made  known  to  tlie  uninitiated,  without  being  divested  of 
their  sanctity,  he  says  ;)  "  This  mystical  playfulness  and  show,  to 
which  had  been  attributed  more  importance  than  it  originally  pos- 
sessed, gave  occasion  for  the  invention  of  a  Disciplina  Arcani,  a  no- 
tion obscure,  indefinite,  and  unhistorical,  and  hence,  out  of  which  it 
was  possible  to  make  e^iery  thing."] 

[A  fevf  remarks  maybe  found  upon  the  subject  in  Mosheim,  Vol. 
I.  pp.  88,  100,  307.  *  The  teachers  of  the  ancient  church,'  says 
Schrockh,  '  have  never  given  an  accurate  explanation  of  what  they 
meant  by  their  secret  institutions,  their  secret  wisdom,  or  Disciplina 
Arcani.  The  Romish  church  afterwards  made  use  of  the  notion  for 
the  purpose  of  thence  deducing  certain  positions  which  are  not  to  be 
met  with  in  the  Scriptures,  and  do  not  belong  to  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. Hence  many  extensive  disputes  have  been  carried  on  upon 
the  subject.'    Tr.] 


104 

order,  admits  of  no  confirmation.  Besides,  the  doctrines 
and  ceremonies  which  were  kept  secret  by  means  of  these 
private  institutions,  were  not  those  which  the  secret  frater- 
nity, said  to  have  been  founded  by  Jesus,  is  affirmed  to 
have  had  in  view,  and  of  course  cannot  be  considered  as 
having  any  thing  to  do  with  it. 

§  50.  It  may  appear  somewhat  striking,  however,  at 
first  glance,  that  Clemens  of  Alexandria  and  Origen  his 
pupil  frequently  assert,  that  there  were  secrets  existing  in 
the  bosom  of  the  church,  of  which  Jesus  was  the  author, 
who  imparted  them  only  to  his  apostles  and  some  select 
friends,  and  that  these  secrets  had  never  been  committed  to 
writing,  but  were  propagated  orally,  and  could  be  known  on- 
ly to  a  few,  The  language  of  Clemens  upon  this  subject 
in  particular,  is  calculated  to  excite  a  general  suspicion 
that  there  was  a  society  in  the  midst  of  the  church,  invisi- 
ble to  common  eyes,  which  had  received  many  things  from 
Jesus,  of  which  the  great  body  of  Christians  were  totally 
ignorant.*  The  more,  however,  any  one  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  the  language  and  mode  of  thinking  peculiar 
to  this  man,  the  less  room  will  he  find  for  this  suspicion, 
and  the  fewer  traces  will  he  discover  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  society.  It  was  the  custom  in  Alexandria  to  speak 
of  higher  secrets.  Philo  had  already  said  much  respect- 
ing a  secret  wisdom  which  could  not  be  imparted  to  all.f 
Clemens,  and  after  him  Origen,  speak  in  like  manner  of 
this  wisdom,  with  the  sole  difference  that  they  derive  it 
from  Jesus.  As  no  account,  however,  is  given  of  any 
such  secrets  by  the  other  writers  of  the  ancient  church, 
we  are  unavoidably  reduced  to  the  supposition,  that  this 
was  a  mode  of  expression  peculiar  to  the  Alexandrian 

school,  and  by  an  acquaintance  with  its   peculiarities  we 

»      . 

*  For  example,  Strom.,  1.  I.  from  the  very  beginning,  especially  at 
p.  322  seqq..  Potter's  ed.  ;  [Sylburg's  ed.,  p.  274  seqq.]  Comp.  al- 
so a  passage  of  the  same  author,  found  in  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles., 
1.  11.  c.  1.  Origen  expresses  his  opinion  upon  this  subject,  contra 
Cels.,  1.  V.  c.  6.  p.  633.  634,  Delar.  ed. 

+  Philo's  System,  in  Eichhorn's  Bibliothek  der  bibl.  Litteratur,  B. 
IV.  S.  775  fF.,  also  S.  780  ff.  [Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  1.74  f.,  and  Ent- 
wickelung  der  Gnost.  Systeme,  S.  6  ff.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  105 

shall  probably  be  enabled  to  conclude  with  some  degree 
of  certainty  in  what  these  celebrated  secrets  consisted. 
The  above  named  school  is  known  to  have  been  distin- 
guished for  philosophizing  upon  the  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity, and  searching  the  Scriptures,  even  in  historical  parts, 
after  traces  of  a  hidden  and  higher  sense,  an  acquaintance 
with  which  they  declared  to  be  a  secret  knowledge,  (Gno- 
sis,) to  which  every  one  could  not  attain.*  Hence,  the 
writings  of  Clemens  and  Origen  are  full  of  allegorical  in- 
terpretations, and  far-fetched  philosophemes,  and  in  these 
respects  they  had  learned  predecessors  at  Alexandria,  par- 
ticularly Philo  the  Jew,  who  makes  this  allegorical  and 
philosophizing  mode  of  explaining  the  Scriptures  the  main 
source  of  the  secrets  of  which  he  so  often  speaks.  If  now 
we  compare  the  passages  in  which  Clemens  and  Origen 
make  mention  of  the  secrets  said  to  have  been  received 
from  Jesus  and  preserved  by  oral  tradition,  it  will  appear 
to  the  highest  degree  probable,  that  they  understood  noth- 
ing more  by  them  than  that  spiritual  meaning  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  can  be  apprehended  by  those  only  who  are 
capable  of  penetrating  beyond  the  letter.f  Hence,  it  is  so 
natural  for  these  men  to  refer  to  this  higher  sense,  and 
that  too  with  a  mysterious  air,  and  a  kind  of  reserve  which 
seems  unwilling  to  reveal  too  much,  that  they  do  so 
throughout  their  writings.  On  the  other  hand,  we  do  not 
find  in  them  the  least  indication  of  a  secret  society  which 
governed  in  silence,  exerted  an  especial  influence  upon 
the  church,  and  took  the  lead  in  its  affairs. 

*  Grabe,  Spicilegium  S.  S.  Patrura,  Tom.  I.  p.  328,  and  Mosheirn, 
De  rebus  Christianorum  ante  Constant.  M.,  p.  629  seqq.  [Neander's 
K.  G.,  I.  3.  942,  947  ff.] 

t  Vid.  Mosheim's  note  to  his  translation  of  Origen  against  Celsus, 
B.  VI.  S.  599  fF.,  to  which  add  Semler's  suspicion  founded  in  truth, 
that  Clemens  had  some  predilection  for  the  philosophemes  of  the 
Gnostics,  Histor.  Einleitung  zu  Baumgartens  Untersuchung  theO' 
logischer  Streitigkeiten,  Th.  I.  S.  181,  and  every  thing  will  be  ren- 
dered still  more  intelligible.  The  Gnostics,  as  will  be  remarked 
farther  on,  were  in  the  habit  of  announcing  their  fanciful  conceits 
to  be  secret  doctrines  which  they  had  received  by  means  of  oral  tra- 
dition. Comp.  Irenaeus,  Advers.  Haeres.,  1.  III.  c.  2.  p.  174, 175, 
Massuel.  ed. 


106 

§  51.  Admitting  the  above  view  to  be  correct,  nothing 
farther  remains  in  ancient  history  which  can  be  looked  up- 
on as  such  an  indication,  except  what  is  said  of  the  Gnos- 
tic parties.  Here  and  there  we  actually  discover  allusions 
to  them,  giving  us  to  understand  that  the  very  secrets 
which  Jesus  deposited  in  the  bosom  of  a  secret  order,  had 
for  a  long  time  been  preserved  by  these  sects.  It  cannot 
be  denied  indeed  that  most  of  the  Gnostic  parties  had 
something  mysterious  in  them.''^  Hence  the  reason  why 
many  of  them,  particularly  the  Valentinians,  exercised 
such  caution  in  the  choice  of  persons  to  be  admitted  into 
their  fraternities,  and  maintained  a  greater  reserve  in  grad- 
ually imparting  their  secrets  to  new  members,  than  any 
other  secret  societies  that  have  ever  existed. f  Moreover 
they  had  much  to  do  with  symbols,  as  is  evident  from 
what  has  come  down  to  us  respecting  the  Ophitesf  and 
Basilidians.§  Indeed,  the  principal  cause  of  the  impene- 
trable obscurity  in  which  the  doctrines  of  all  the  Gnostic 
sects  are  veiled,  and  in  which  their  opinions  appear  to  us 
to  be  a  most  intricate  tissue  of  senseless  dreams,  is  unques- 
tionably to  be  sought  for  in  the  mystical  language  which 
they  employed.  It  was  not  understood  even  by  those  an- 
cient writers,  whose  accounts  we  are  obliged  to  follow  in 
tracing  the  history  of  the  Gnostics,  and  of  course  we  shall 
be  far  less  able  fully  to  decipher  it.||     Some  however  are 

*  Some  of  them  went  so  far  as  to  appeal  to  the  fact  that  their  sys- 
tem of  truth  was  a  secret  which  Jesus  had  intrusted  to  but  a  few. 
Comp.  Mosheim,  Ueber  die  Ophiten,  §  LIV.  S.  106,  and  De  Rebus 
Christ,  ante  Constant.,  Sec,  1.  §  LXIIl.  p.  185. 

t  Vid.  Walch,  Entwurf  einer  vollstandigen  Historie  der  Katzer- 
eyen,  Th.  I.  S.  380-382, 

t  Compare  Walch's  work  just  quoted,  Th.  I.  S.  290  if. 

§  Mosheim,  Versuch  einc^  unpartheyischen  und  grtlndlichen 
Katzergeschichte,  und  Schumacher,  Erlauterung  der  dunkeln  und 
schweren  Lehrtafel  der  alten  Ophiten  oder  SchlangenbrUder,  nach 
den  geheimen  Grundsatzen  der  Kabbalisten  abgefasst,  belong  to  this 
place. 

II  Many  of  them  maintained  expressly  that  Jesus  imparted  secret 
doctrines  to  his  apostles,  with  a  commission  to  make  them  known 
to  but  a  few,  trusty  persons.  Vid.  Irenaeus,  Adv.  Haer.,  1. 1.  e.  34. 
p.  104;  [also,  II.  46.  p.  172.  Grab.] 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  107 

inclined  to  admit  without  any  proof,  that  these  sects  were 
branches  of  a  secret  society  established  by  Jesus  himself. 
Every  thing  that  has  been  preserved  of  their  doctrines  and 
opinions  is  certainly  very  obscure,  and  their  modes  of  rep- 
resentation appear  at  first  glance  to  agree  very  litde  to- 
gether. It  can  be  made  quite  evident,  however,  that  the 
main  object  of  all  these  sects  was,  to  substitute  rational  re- 
ligion instead  of  revealed.*  Now  who  that  has  read  the 
writings  of  the  apostles,  can  admit  this  to  have  been  our 
Saviour's  object?  These  societies,  for  the  most  part, 
thought  very  meanly  of  the  writings  of  Christ's  apostles, 
treated  them  in  a  very  capricious  manner,  and,  under  a 
veil  of  obscure  figures  and  difficult  symbolical  representa- 
tions, labored  with  especial  diligence  to  extend  the  quite 
abortive  speculations  of  reason  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
world  and  the  evil  it  contains.  Could  they  possibly  have 
been  the  continuation  of  an  institution  established  by  Je- 
sus, of  which  the  apostles  were  the  oldest  members  ?  The 
foreign  origin  of  all  these  sects  is  also  immediately  betray- 
ed by  the  figures  and  modes  of  representation  which  they 
had  in  common ;  for  the  manner  in  which  they  clothed 
and  delivered  their  instructions,  bears  not  the  least  resem- 
blance to  that  of  the  friends  of  Jesus.  Moreover  it  can 
be  proved  that  the  chief  dogmas  of  the  Gnostics  existed 
before  Christianity  and  prevailed  in  the  East.f     These 

*  1.  Comp.  Semler,  Geschichte  der  Christlichen  Glaubenslehre, 
in  the  first  part  of  Baumgarten's  Untersuchung  theologischer  Streit- 
igkeiten,  S.t21  ff. 

2.  Mosheim  in  his  work,  Ueber  die  SchlangenbrUder,  declares 
himself  in  the  most  decided  manner  opposed  to  the  opinion  here 
quoted,  and  maintains  that  in  regard  to  the  Gnostics,  every  thing 
must  be  understood  literally.  §  XXVII— XXX.  S.  44  ff.  [Comp.  al- 
so Neander,  Gnost.  Systeme,  S.94  ff.  235.  260.  264.] 

t  Vid.  Michaelis,  De  indiciis  Gnosticae  philosophiae  tempore 
LXX.  interpretum  et  Philonis  Judaei,  in  the  Syntagma  Commenta- 
tionum,  Tom.  II.  p.  251  seqq.,  where  also  is  to  be  found  a  lecture 
upon  this  subject  very  much  to  the  purpose,  by  Walsch,  De  philo- 
sophia  orientali,  Gnosticorum  systematum  fonte  et  origine.  The 
latter  upon  the  subject  is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  Entwurf  der  Katzer- 
historie,  Th.  I.  S.  241  ff. ;  [Neander,  Gnost.  Systeme,  Einleitung, 
Eleraente  der  Gnosis  im  Philo,  S.  1—27.] 


108 

sects,  therefore,  could  not  have  been  the  keepers  of  the 
genuine  principles  delivered  by  Jesus.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  took  their  rise  in  opinions  altogether  at  variance  with 
Christianity,  and  of  course,  while  they  retained  what  was 
consistent  with  their  own  strange  conjectures,  they  in  a 
great  measure  rejected  its  real  and  demonstrable  doctrines. 
On  this  point  the  primitive  Christians  were  unanimous ; 
for  they  considered  all  the  Gnostics  as  errorists,  very  far 
removed  in  their  views  and  feelings  from  the  doctrines 
taught  in  the  Gospel.  Indeed  the  w^ritings  of  the  aposdes 
bear  no  very  obscure  traces  of  having  been  written  on 
purpose  to  controvert  many  of  the  positions  afterwards 
maintained  by  these  parties.  This,  in  particular,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  principal  object  of  John  in  all  his 
writings  ;  some  leading  doctrines  of  this  kind  having  even 
then  been  partially  blended  with  Christianity,  though  none 
who  advocated  them  bore  the  name  of  Gnostics."^  This 
circumstance  in  this  matter  is  perfectly  decisive  ;  for  we 
must  either  maintain  that  the  aposdes  were  ignorant  of  the 
object  which  their  teacher  had  in  view,  (and  from  whom 
with  confidence  can  we  expect  a  true  explanation  of 
Christ's  intentions,  if  not  from  them  ?)  or  we  must  ad- 
mit that  the  Gnostic  sects,  whose  leading  doctrines  they 
rejected,  were  the  remnants  of  a  secret  society  which  un- 
derstood Christ's  genuine  meaning,  and  was  to  execute 
his  plan. 

§  52.  We  have  now  examined  every  thing  which  appears 
to  contain  any  marks  or  traces  of  a  secret  order  formed  l)y 
Jesus  for  the  execution  of  his  plan,  and  shown  that  nothing 
is  to  be  found  which  can  be  considered  as  substantial  proof 
that  such  an  order  ever  existed.  This  of  itself  would  be  suf- 
ficient even  now  to  justify  us  in  declaring  every  thing  that 
has  been  said  respecting  an  association  by  means  of  which 
Jesus  intended  to  operate,  to  be  empty  fiction.     We  shall 

*  Comp.  Michaelis,  Einleituno^  in  die  gottlichen  Schriften  des 
neuen  Bundes,  Th.  II.  §  149  u.  150.  [Marsh's  Michaelis,  Vol.  III. 
Chap.  VII.  Sec.  V.  Tr.  ;]  and  a  learned  and  cirpumstantial  confir- 
mation of  this  affair  in  Storr's  work,  Ueber  den  Zweck  der  evangelis- 
chen  Geschichte  und  der  Briefe  Johannis.  S.  43  if. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  109 

be  able  however  to  draw  this  conclusion  with  far  greater 
certainty,  if  some  additional  things  and  circumstances  be 
pointed  out,  which  are  very  clearly  opposed  to  the  position 
that  Jesus  intended  to  make  use  of  such  means. 

Here  Christ's  own  language  may  be  quoted.  In  more 
than  one  instance,  his  very  expressions  are  of  such  a  cha- 
racter as  directly  to  contradict  the  idea,  that  he  operated 
by  means  of  private  institutions.  He  told  his  friends  ex- 
plicitly, that  they  should  resemble  a  city  set  on  a  high  hill, 
which,  on  account  of  its  position,  cannot  be  hid ;  that  they 
should  be  a  light  for  illuminating  the  whole  world ;  and 
ought  never  to  think  of  keeping  any  thing  secret.  Matt.  5: 
13,  16.  He  announced  to  them  in  plain  terms,  that  the 
extension  of  his  doctrines  would  excite  great  commotions, 
and  draw  down  severe  persecutions  upon  his  friends.  Matt. 
10:  21 — 32.  Had  it  been  his  intention  to  advance  his 
object  by  secret  springs,  he  must  have  charged  his  apos- 
tles to  avoid  all  public  curiosity,  and  shun  the  very  appear- 
ance of  general  movements.  Instead  of  doing  so,  howev- 
er, and  making  it  their  duty  to  maintain  a  suspicious  re- 
serve and  operate  in  secret,  he  commanded  them  to  teach 
every  thing  that  he  had  delivered  to  them,  with  boldness, 
and  preach  what  he  had  told  them  in  the  ear,  upon  the 
house-top,  Matt.  10:  26,  27.  Stronger  expressions  could 
not  well  have  been  employed  for  showing  that  he  wished 
them  to  act  with  perfect  frankness,  and  avoid  every  thing 
like  mystery.  Of  the  same  character  is  all  the  instruc- 
tion which  Jesus  imparted  to  his  aposdes  in  his  last  famil- 
iar discourses  with  them,  John  xiv. — xvi.,  respecting  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  to  labor  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  object  after  his  death.  They  were  to  do  ev- 
ery thing  in  public,  and  without  a  shrinking  reserve. 
They  were  not  to  hesitate,  should  they  be  complained  of, 
persecuted,  and  oppressed,  for  their  candid  and  open  ef- 
forts. They  were  to  remember  that  his  frankness  of  ac- 
tion had  drawn  down  upon  him  the  same  fate,  John  15: 
18 — ^21,  and  that  the  object  before  them  was  to  effect  a 
radical  improvement,  which  could  not  be  done  without 
great  public  commotion,  John  16:  8 — 11.  It  appears 
10 


no  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

even  that  Jesus  intended  expressly  to  guard  his  follow- 
ers and  friends  against  being  entangled  with  societies,  in 
which  he  referred  to  something  secret  and  mysterious. 
The  admonition  which  he  is  known  to  have  given  them 
against  believing  any,  who,  during  the  last  calamitous  times 
of  the  Jewish  state,  should  try  to  persuade  them  that 
Christ  was  here  or  there,  was  in  the  desert  or  in  secret 
places,  Matt.  24:  23 — 26,  can  have  no  other  meaning. 
His  object  undoubtedly  was  to  make  his  followers  sus- 
picious of  all  secret  institutions,  notwithstanding  they  pro- 
raised  great  things  and  excited  seducing  hopes.  Finally, 
the  declaration  which  Jesus  made  respecting  himself  be- 
fore Annas  the  high  priest,  when  interrogated  as  to  his 
disciples  and  doctrines,  is  worthy  of  particular  attention. 
Jesus  told  him  in  the  strongest  terms,  that  he  had  never  la- 
bored in  a  corner,  nor  taught  nor  attempted  anything  in  se- 
cret ;  that  he  had  delivered  his  instructions  in  the  syna- 
gogues and  the  temple,  where  all  could  hear  him,  and 
hence,  that  people  were  to  be  found  in  every  place,  who 
were  well  acquainted  with  whatever  he  had  said  or  done, 
John  18:  19 — 21.  Jesus  could  not  possibly  have  given 
such  an  answer,  had  he  been  a  member  or  the  founder  of  a 
secret  society.  Those,  therefore,  who  attribute  to  him  the 
formation  of  such  an  association  and  make  him  operate  by 
its  means,  do  it  in  direct  opposition  to  his  own  plain 
assertions. 

§  53.  To  these  lucid  declarations  of  Jesus,  some  oth- 
er circumstances  may  be  added,  which  cannot  possibly  be 
made  to  agree  with  the  supposition  that  I  am  now  con- 
troverting. Every  step  that  Jesus  took  was  watched  with 
great  attention.  His  enemies,  drawn  together  by  his 
frankness  in  large  numbers,  examined  every  thing  that  he 
did  with  uncommon  eagerness,  and  were  ready  on  all  oc- 
casions to  lay  hold  of  any  thing  that  could  be  made  use  of 
to  his  prejudice.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive,  therefore,  how 
the  secret  and  quite  extensive  connexions  which  Jesus  is 
said  to  have  had,  could  have  remained  altogether  undis- 
covered. From  history,  however,  it  appears  to  be  an 
undisputed  fact,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  ever  thought 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  HI 

of,  nor  the  least  suspicion  ever  excited,  that  Jesus  was  la- 
boring in  secret  to  raise  up  a  strong  party  in  his  own  fa- 
vor.    When  brought  before  Pilate,  he  was  not  accused  of 
having  formed  a  secret  conspiracy,  but  of  having  endeav- 
ored to  excite  a  public  insurrection.     So  firmly  convinc- 
ed were  the  people  that  if  he  were  taken  out  of  the  way, 
there  was  nothing  more  to  fear,  that  they  did   not  even 
take  the  trouble  of  securing  his  friends.     They  were  con- 
sidered, and  justly  too,  as  a  weak  company,  which  would 
disperse  of  themselves  as  soon  as  their  leader  was  remov^- 
ed.     In  this  opinion  the  Jewish   magistrates  must  have 
been  greatly  confirnfied  by  the  fact,  that  the  traitor,  one 
of  his  twelve  confidants  and  constant  associates,  of  whose 
aid  they  availed  themselves  in  taking  Jesus,  gave  them  no 
information   respecting   his  being  engaged  in  secret  com- 
binations.    Had   this  faithless  wretch  known  any  thing  of 
the  kind,  or  even  suspected  that  Jesus  had  been  able  to  form 
secret  plans  and  undertake  their  execution,  he  would  not 
have  passed  it  over  in  silence ;  and  had  his  master  been 
connected  with  any  private  associations,  would  it  have  been 
possible  for  him  not  to  have  discovered  it  during  three  years 
of  uninterrupted  intercourse  ?   Moreover  the  conduct  of  Je- 
sus as  represented  in  the  history  of  his  life,  is  altogether  dis- 
similar to  that  of  those  who  have  founded  secret  associations, 
or  had  intercourse  with  them.    One  of  the  strongest  traits  of 
his  character  was  an  unshrinking,  unconstrained  frankness. 
He  on   all  occasions  and  with  energy  made  known  the 
truth  in  public,  even  where  it  was  dangerous  to  utter  it. 
A  man  who  forms  secret  societies,  and   employs  them  as 
the  means  of  operation,  is  reserved  and  must  be  so.     He 
will  be  accustomed  to  labor  in  silence  and  retirement,  rath- 
er than  openly  and  in  the  rush  of  a  crowd.     Jesus  chose 
his  confidential  friends  without  any  of  those  delays  indica- 
tive of  a  doubtful  state  of  mind,  and  connected  them  with 
him  without  requiring  them  to  puss  through  a  course  of 
trial  or  a  variety  of  preparatory  exercises.     We  all  know 
with  what  caution  those   proceed,  who  are  in  search  of 
members  for  a  secret  society  ; — what  observations,  what 
.  inquiries,  what  examinations  are  requisite,  before  they  can 


112  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  plan 

resolve  upon  receiving  a  stranger,  and  adnnitting  him  into 
important  mysteries.  The  men  whom  Jesus  chose  for  his 
associates,  were  unlearned,  and  taken  from  the  common 
walks  of  hfe.  They  had  no  knowledge  of  the  world  or 
mankind,  were  destitute  of  wealth  and  power,  and  in  no 
respects  distinguished  for  natural  talents.  For  nothing 
were  they  less  fitted,  than  taking  an  active  part  in  plans 
which  required  a  refined  and  penetrating  wisdom,  and  be- 
ing initiated  into  important  secrets.  I  need  not  say  how 
entirely  different  those  act,  in  making  choice  of  their  as- 
sociates, who  aim  at  accomplishing  any  thing  by  means  of 
secret  unions.  There  are  many  private  societies  in  silent 
operation,  the  object  of  whose  labors  must  yield  in  impor- 
tance and  extent  to  that  which  Jesus  had  to  advance,  and 
yet  none  of  them  would  bid  such  men  as  the  apostles 
were,  a  very  hearty  welcome  to  their  fraternities,  or  ad- 
mit them  as  members,  much  less  take  up  altogether  with 
such.  The  closer,  therefore,  we  scrutinize  whatever  Jesus 
said  and  did,  the  more  we  discover  in  his  conduct  entirely 
at  variance  with  the  conjecture,  that  he  founded  a  secret 
order,  and  intended  to  use  it  as  the  means  of  operation. 
This  opinion  is  not  only  wholly  destitute  of  all  historical 
proof,  but  it  stands  in  direct  opposition  to  unquestionable 
matters  of  fact.  We  may  justly  draw  the  conclusion, 
therefore,  that  Jesus  never  intended  to  put  the  hidden 
springs  of  a  secret  society  in  motion  for  the  execution  of 
his  plan ;  that  in  what  he  undertook  for  the  advancement 
of  truth  and  happiness  among  mankind,  he  not  only  did 
not  employ  a  means  of  operation,  which  wise  men  have  at 
all  times  looked  upon  as  very  useful,  but  that  he  absolute- 
ly disapproved  of  it  and  rejected  it,  in  a  manner  sufficient- 
ly intelligible  both  in  his  words  and  actions. 


Jesus  chose  the  gentlest  means  possible. 

§  54.  Of  course,  none  but  the  gentlest  means  now 
remain,  by  which  such  a  benevolent  plan  as  Jesus  had  in 
view,  could  have  been  carried  into  effect ;  namely,  that  of 


rOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  Il3 

convincing  instruction,  connected  with  institutions  for 
quickening  the  moral  sensibilities,  arousing  the  human 
mind  to  reflect  upon  its  most  important  concerns,  and 
warm  it  with  a  living  zeal  for  the  attainment  of  its  true  des- 
tination.* It  is  too  obvious  to  be  denied,  that  Jesus  not 
only  labored  in  this  way  himself  for  carrying  his  plan  in- 
to effect,  but  even  prohibited  his  apostles  from  making 
use  of  any  other  method.  History  informs  us  that  in- 
struction was  the  principal  means  of  which  he  availed  him- 
self, when  he  entered  upon  its  execution.  That  he  never  em- 
ployed power  to  obtain  adherents  to  his  cause,  has  already 
been  shown.  It  is  as  certain  that  he  never  dazzled  dtiy  with 
external  splendor,  for  the  poverty  in  which  he  '/^'^d  struck 
the  eyes  of  every  one.  He  did  not  f^"-^-  flatter  the  am- 
bition, avarice,  and  sensuality  of  his  fellow  citizens  with 
the  hopes  of  future  gain.  On  the  other  hand,  he  frankly 
told  all  who  v/ished  to  join  him,  that  they  would  have  to 
suffer  timch  in  the  cause  of  the  truth,  and  must  resolve  to 
sacrifice  every  thing  for  its  sake.  The  very  miracles  that  he 
wrought  were  employed  solely  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  at- 
tention to  his  instruction,  and  procuring  for  him  the  necessary 
respect.  Instruction,  therefore,  was  the  principal  means  of 
which  he  intended  to  avail  himself  in  the  accomplishment  of 
his  object;  and  by  looking  at  the  manner  in  which  he  proceed- 
ed in  this  respect,  we  shall  be  astonished  at  the  carefulness 
with  which  he  ever  honored  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind, 
and  in  all  cases  sought  to  create  rational  convictions  of  the 
truth.  A  special  object  of  his  efforts  evidently  was,  to  excite 
redection  in  all  those  who  heard  him,  and  bring  them  to  make 
a  candid  examination  for  themselves.  Hence,  he  never 
sought  to  take  any  one  by  surprise.  He  even  laid  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  and  rejected  those,  who,  without  sufficient 
consideration,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  rash  zeal,  offered 
to  become  his  disciples,  Luke  9:  57 — 62.  Sometimes  he 
merely  laid  down  premises,  and  recommended  them  to 
the  attention  of  his  hearers,  in  order  to  furnish  them  with 

*  [Compare  the  author's  sermon,  J.  1798,  Misericord.  Domini,  I. 
293  i  "  Considerations  respecting  the  choice  of  tlie  means  by  which 
Jesus  intended  to  collect  a  church".] 
10* 


114 

an  opportunity  for  making,  by  their  own  contemplations, 
those  deductions  which  he  passed  over  in  silence,  Matt. 
10:  37 — 39.  Often  he  did  directly  the  opposite  to  what 
was  demanded  of  him,  without  verbally  contradicting  pre- 
vailing prejudices,  and  left  it  with  those  who  saw  him, 
act,  to  examine  into  the  reasons  of  his  conduct.  He  la- 
bored very  zealously  to  promote  the  use  of  a  sound  un- 
derstanding in  the  affairs  of  religion,  and  sought  in  eve- 
ry way  to  make  it  evident,  that  as  soon  as  a  man,  in  at- 
tending to  its  doctrines,  neglects  the  aid  of  that  faculty 
given  us  by  nature  for  perceiving  the  truth,  and  by  means 
of  which  we  are  so  happily  guided  in  the  every  day  busi- 
ness of  life,  he  judges  in  a  very  false  and  disconnected 
manner,  and  involves  himself  in  the  most  disgraceful  con- 
tradictions.* Sometimes  he  raised  doubts  on  purpose  to 
promote  reflection  and  induce  farther  investigations,  Matt. 
22:  41—46.  Mark  11:  27. 

For  the  same  reason,  he  often  clothed  his  instructions 
in  fictions  and  fables,  such  a  mode  of  imparting  truth  being 
not  only  interesting  and  attractive,  but  necessarily  requir- 
ing the  hearer  to  make  his  own  application  and  interpreta- 
tion, and  calling  the  powers  of  hrs  judgement  into  health- 
ful exercise.  He  delighted  in  reconciling  contradictions, 
and  with  incredible  patience  condescended  to  refute  the 
most  senseless  objections  and  the  wickedest  reproaches. 
In  so  doing,  he  never  broke  out  in  fiery  condemnation, 
but  always  justified  himself  with  a  calm  earnestness,  and  a 
noble  temperance,  while  at  the  same  time,  he  often 
freely  told  his  opponents  of  the  unhappy  consequences 
which  their  extreme  obstinacy  would  necessarily  draw 
down  upon  them.  He  never  forced  the  truth  upon  any 
one.  All  that  he  sought  to  do  in  its  favor,  was,  by  wise, 
gentle,  and  agreeable  means,  to  represent  it  in  an  amia- 
ble and  convincing  light.  He  did  not  consider  it  of  so 
much  importance  for  men  to  believe,  as  for  them  to  be- 
lieve aright,  and  with  reason  and  reflection.  Hence,  he 
never  allowed  himself  to  employ  any  of  those  arts  of  per- 

*  For  examples,  vid.  Matt.  12:  9—12.  Luke  14:  1—6.  Matt.  23:  16 
—33,  «Skc. 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  1 1  5 

suasion  which  delude.  He  could  speak,  indeed,  with  an 
eloquence  which  melted  every  heart,  and  affected  even 
his  enemies,  Luke  4:  22.  John  7:  45,  46.  His  elo- 
quence, however,  consisted  not  in  the  art  of  getting  the 
advantage  over  a  person  by  arguments  rather  dazzling 
than  true,  nor  in  the  faculty  of  astonishing  and  bearing 
away  an  audience  with  a  splendor  of  words  and  a  flowing 
elocution,  without  instructing  and  convincing  them.  It 
produced  its  effects  solely  by  means  of  the  enlightening 
truth  contained  in  what  he  said.  The  naturalness,  sim- 
plicity, distinctness,  and  strength,  with  which  he  taught 
every  where,  proved  in  a  clear  and  correct  manner ; 
and  instead  of  deceiving  with  their  splendor,  gently  illumi- 
nated the  mind  without  corrupting  or  constraining  the 
heart,  and  brought  into  disgrace  those  sophistical  jugglings 
to  which  error  alone  is  obliged  to  resort  for  defence.  He 
most  conscientiously  and  tenderly  regarded  the  laws  of 
the  human  mind,  solemnly  appealed  to  them  in  investigat- 
ing the  most  exalted  subjects  of  human  knowledge,  and 
made  as  great  efforts  as  possible  to  conquer  merely  by 
reason  and  the  power  of  the  truth.  Instruction,  and  in- 
struction of  which  every  one  was  at  liberty  to  avail  him- 
self, delivered  without  any  mysterious  reserve,  and  open 
to  the  freest  and  most  acute  examination,  constituted  the 
principal  means  of  which  Jesus  availed  himself  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  his  plan. 

At  the  same  time,  Jesus  made  arrangements  for  preserv- 
ing and  propagating  this  instruction,  giving  it  life  and  pow- 
er, rendering  his  followers  more  intimate  with  it,  and  obe- 
dient to  it,  and  keeping  their  minds  in  healthful  and  per- 
petual action;  and  especially  for  nourishing  and  cherishing 
that  love  which  was  to  unite  them  together,  and  lead  them 
on  in  the  way  of  virtue  and  happiness.  It  was  his  inten- 
tion in  particular,  that  his  adherents  should  form  themselves 
into  a  visible  society,  that  they  should  constitute  a  church, 
Matt.  16:  18.  This  society,  however,  this  church,  was 
not  in  the  least  degree  to  change  or  disturb  their  civil  re- 
lations. As  the  objects  of  this  union  were  solely  of  a 
moral  character,  every  one  might  become  a  member  of  it 


116 

without  neglecting  the  calling  which  he  had  chosen,  or 
forsaking  the  post  to  which  he  had  been  assigned  by  the 
state.  Every  society,  however,  must  have  marks  for  dis- 
tinguishing its  members,  and  means  for  preserving  the 
connexion  which  exists  between  them,  and  accomplishing 
the  object  for  which  it  was  formed ;  must  have  institu- 
tions for  cherishing  those  dispositions  and  feelings,  and  that 
spirit  which  are  to  animate  the  whole,  and  promote  the 
welfare  of  every  part.  Jesus  took  care  that  the  society 
which  he  intended  to  establish  should  be  furnished  with 
such  institutions.  It  was  to  have  a  solemnity  for  the  initi- 
ation of  new  members.  The  ceremony  which  Jesus  ap- 
pointed for  this  purpose,  was  neither  a  terrific  and  painful 
one,  like  the  circumcision  of  his  countrymen,  nor  a  mys- 
terious one,  connected  with  great  preparations  like  those 
of  the  heathen.  His  followers  were  to  be  consecrated  by 
the  simple,  but  significant  use  of  water,  as  a  solemn  puri- 
fication, reminding  them  that  they  were  now  to  become 
members  of  a  community  which  required  of  them  unspot- 
ted purity  of  heart  and  life.  Matt.  28:  19.  John  3:  5.  As 
however,  the  continuance  and  prosperity  of  this  commu- 
nity, depended  entirely  upon  the  preservation  and  ope- 
ration 01  the  sacred  truths  and  principles  committed  to  its 
charge,  so  the  consecrated  were  to  remind  each  other  of 
the  great  object  of  their  union,  and  mutually  stimulate 
each  other  to  its  attainment,  by  carefully  meeting  together, 
holding  up  to  view  and  inculcating  these  important  doc- 
trines, and  by  means  of  touching  exercises,  endeavoring  to 
render  the  excitement  thus  produced,  strong  and  power- 
ful. In  a  word,  they  were  to  use  every  possible  means, 
not  only  for  procuring  a  permanent  place  in  the  very  heart, 
for  the  substance  of  the  joyful  message  brought  them  by 
their  Lord  and  Master  from  heaven,  but  for  promoting  the 
welfare  of  the  human  race  by  spreading  it  throughout  the 
world.  Matt.  18;  15—20.  28:  20.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  object,  depended  very  much  upon  the  preservation 
of  the  spirit  of  unity  and  love,  which  was  to  distinguish 
this  new  community  from  all  others  and  be  the  means  of 
renovating  and  improving  the  world  and  rendering  it  happy. 
The  only  sure  way  of  effecting  this,  was,  by  a  repeated  and 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  ]  1  7 

tender  recollection  of  the  author  of  this  union,  and  his 
magnanimous  sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
Hence,  with  the  pious  meetings  held  by  the  members  of 
this  church,  was  from  time  to  time  to  be  connected  a  re- 
ligious and  fraternal  repast,  on  which  occasions  they  were 
to  call  to  mind  the  last  supper  which  he  eat  in  confidence 
with  his  disciples,  on  the  very  evening  before  his  death. 
Whenever  they  did  so,  in  imitation  of  his  example,  they 
were  to  take  bread  and  wine,  and  in  partaking  of  the 
first,  to  think  how  his  body  was  tortured  and  offered  a 
sacrifice  for  sin,  and  in  receiving,  the  last,  to  think  how^ 
his  blood  was  shed  for  them.  In  this  way,  they  were  to 
celebrate  the  remembrance  of  his  love  and  death,  and, 
while  animated  by  reflecting  upon  them,  to  bind  them- 
selves to  most  unshaken  fidelity  in  his  service,  and  the 
most  active  benevolence  towards  each  other.  Matt.  26: 
26—28.  Mark  14;  22-— 24.  Luke  22:  19,  20.  He  laid 
down  no  other  precepts  respecting  the  external  form  of  his 
church.  It  was  left  entirely  with  the  aposdes  to  form  such 
other  regulations  as  they  should  find  best  adapted  to  their 
wants  and  the  circumstances  of  the  age. 

§  55.  The  rules  which  he  laid  down  for  the  direction 
of  his  apostles  in  executing  his  plan,  have  a  close  agree- 
ment with  these  general  principles.  They  were  never  to 
think  of  striving  after  civil  power,  or  any  other  influence 
than  that,  which  could  be  obtained  by  exhibiting  the  truth 
and  setting  a  virtuous  example,  Luke  22:  24 — 27.  1  Pe- 
ter 5:  2,  3.  They  were  to  gain  none  by  promising  them 
earthly  advantage,  but  they  were  ever  to  inculcate  upon 
their  hearers  the  truth,  that  virtue  must  look  for  its  full  re- 
ward to  another  world.  Matt.  10:  37 — 39.  They  were 
not  to  constitute  a  secret  society,  nor  operate  by  secret 
arts,  but  to  go  forth  into  all  the  world,  and  make  known  the 
truth  freely,  and  publicly  to  all  nations.  Matt.  28:  19,  20. 
Acts  1:  8.*     In  so  doing,  they  were  not  merely  to  enjoin 

*  That  they  did  so,  is  evident  not  merely  from  history.  In  their 
Epistles,  they  appeal  expressly  to  the  churches  which  had  been  es- 
tablished in  proof  of  the  fact,  that  they  had  employed  neither  cun- 
ning nor  secret  institutions,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  advocates  to 
thei^r  cause,  2  Cor.  4:  2.  1  Thes.  2:  3,  4. 


118  SKETCH  OF  Christ's  PLAN 

it  upon  every  one  to  believe  their  word,  but  they  were  to  call 
upon  every  one  to  hear  their  reasons  and  examine  them  for 
themselves.  Wherever  they  found  people,  who  advocated 
the  truth,  they  were  to  establish  institutions  for  the  preser- 
vation and  extension  of  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with 
it.  Hence  they  were  to  prepare  men  by  education  for 
teaching  others,  and  institute  meetings  and  exercises  for 
the  common  information  and  encouragement  of  all  the 
professors  of  this  pure  religion.  In  their  efforts  indeed 
they  were  not  to  allow  themselves  to  be  checked  or  dis- 
turbed by  vetos  or  magisterial  power,  Matt.  10:  17 — 
33.  John  15:  17  to  chap.  16:  4,  for  no  earthly  ruler 
has  a  right  to  prohibit  his  subjects  from  receiving  this 
religion,  addressing  itself  as  it  does,  to  the  conscience, 
or  to  lay  down  precepts  for  directing  them  in  attending  to 
their  moral  education  and  the  welfare  of  their  souls.  Acts 
4:  19,  20.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  not  to  allow 
those  who  wished  to  become  of  their  number,  to  occasion 
any  discord  in  society,  or,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  to 
transgress  the  several  relations  to  which  they  had  been  as- 
signed, 1  Cor.  7:  17 — 22,  or  refusato  give  due  honor  to 
their  rulers,  and  yield  the  most  willing  and  punctual  obedi- 
ence to  their  lawful  regulations,  Rom.  13:  1 — 7.  1  Pet. 
2:  13 — 17.  Tit.  3:  1.  They  were  rather  to  aim  ear- 
nestly at  transforming  all  the  advocates  of  the  truth  in- 
to the  most  diligent,  faithful,  and  useful  citizens,  by  in- 
culcating it  upon  them,  as  a  general  principle,  that  they 
were  bound  to  honor  the  doctrines  which  they  profess- 
ed, and  advance  the  truth  as  much  as  possible,  by  ex- 
hibiting the  most  upright  and  dignified  conduct  in  all  their 
relations,  Matt.  6:  16.  1  Pet.  2:  11,  12.  Phil.  1:27.  Col. 
1:  10.  Tit.  2:  6 — 10.  In  this  way  then,  was  the  truth  to 
conquer  of  itself.  It  needed  no  foreign  aid.  The  na- 
tions of  the  earth  would  gradually  ascertain,  that  it  would 
be  for  their  interests  in  every  respect,  to  embrace  it  and 
obey  it.  All  those  also,  who  gave  themselves  up  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Saviour's  great  views,  were  to  expect  the 
protection  and  assistance  of  heaven,  which  was  of  far  more 
importance  than  the  favor  of  the  world ;  for  the  plan  in  which 


FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  ALL  MEN.  Il9 

Jesus  was  engaged,  was  the  work  of  God,  John  4:  34,  with 
chap.  XVII.  It  was  the  object  of  the  Governor  of  the  world, 
and  of  the  Father  of  mankind,  to  bless  the  whole  human 
family  and  give  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  the  highest 
proof  of  his  infinite  love,  by  carrying  this  great  undertaking 
into  effect. 

Such  is  the  great  plan,  which,  according  to  historical  tes- 
timony, Jesus  devised  for  the  good  of  our  race,  and  such 
are  the  means  which  were  to  be  employed  for  carrying  it 
into  complete  effect.  That  it  has  been  misapprehended 
and  misrepresented,  is  neither  his  fault  nor  that  of  his 
friends.  It  has  not  yet  been  carried  into  complete  effect, 
at  least,  to  such  a  degree  as  its  author  intended,  and  as 
could  be  wished.  With  this,  however,  we  have  nothing 
to  do.  It  is  sufficient  that  Jesus  intended  it  should  be ; — 
that  this  was  the  object  which  he  had  in  view.  Let  us 
now  see  whether  any  mind  in  the  age  before  him,  ever 
conceived  of  a  similar  plan  ;  whether  any  benefactor  of 
the  human  race,  any  great  genius  of  antiquity,  was  ever 
capable  of  such  exaltation,  such  extension  of  thought. 


* 


PART  SECOND. 


NO  GREAT  MAN    OF  ANTIQUITY  BEFORE    JESUS,  EVER 

DEVISED  A  BENEVOLENT  PLAN  FOE  THE  WHOLE 

HUMAN  FAMILY. 

§  56.  These  are  those  who  can  look  down  upon  the 
most  celebrated  spirits  of  antiquity  with  a  contemptuous 
glance  because  they  were  heathen,  that  is,  had  not  that 
religious  knowledge  with  which  God  has  honored  us ; — can 
find  satisfaction  in  impugning  their  motives,  or  consider  it  as 
an  act  of  piety  to  deny  them  the  possession  of  any  good  dis- 
position and  feeling,  and,  by  an  unmerciful  decision,  declare 
their  actions  splendid  sins,  how  fine  soever  and  noble  they 
may  have  been,  and  how  much  soever  they  contributed  to 
promote  the  education  and  welfare  of  mankind.  Such  will 
dislike  this  part,  perhaps  pass  over  it,  and  refuse  to  accom- 
pany us  into  antiquity.  We  shall  not  allow  ourselves  to  be 
disturbed  or  interrupted  by  them,  while  we  stand  with  ven- 
eration before  a  great  man  of  the  anterior  world,  and  ad- 
mire his  virtue,  zeal,  and  superiority,  and  our  heart  flows 
forth  with  gratitude  to  the  author  and  careful  guardian  of 
all,  for  his  gifts  to  our  world  in  general,  but  especially  in 
these  active,  benevolent,  and  exalted  spirits,  in  whatever 
climate  they  hved.*     Let  us  be  just.     Let  us  honor,  ad- 

*  "  Thy  foot,"  says  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  as  it  is  there  express- 
ed, "  will  not  stunjble,  if  thou  ascribest  every  thing  good  and  no- 
ble, to  Providence,  whether  it  takes  place  among  the  Greeks  or  our- 

11 


122 

mire,  and  esteem  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  who  lived 
before  Jesus,  according  to  their  merits.  When,  under  the 
guidance  of  truth,  we  have  gone  through  with  this  worthy 
collection,  contemplated  their  deeds,  and  developed  their 
plans  with  their  benevolent  resuhs,  how  astonished  shall  we 
be  at  the  dignity  and  exaltation  of  him  who  is  so  much  su- 
perior to  them  all !  With  what  emotion  and  reverence  shall 
we  at  last  humble  ourselves  before  the  author  of  Christi- 
anity, when  convinced  that  he  very  far  surpasses  every 
thing  that  is  great  and  exalted  among  men  ! 

§  57.  Before  entering  upon  the  consideration  of  these 
benefactors  of  mankind,  however,  as  individuals,  let  us 
throw  out  some  general  remarks  respecting  the  whole  of 
antiquity.  He  who  is  acquainted  with  the  old  world,  and 
has  been  accustomed  to  contemplate  human  nature  and 
its  laws  of  development  and  operation,  with  a  pene- 
trating eye,  will  at  the  very  outset  admit  it  to  be  improb- 
able, that,  among  all  the  great  men  with  which  antiquity 
abounds,  we  shall  light  upon  any,  who  were  capable  of  such 
enlargement  of  thought,  such  extensive  goodness  of  heart, 
as  shine  forth  from  the  plan  of  Jesus  which  we  have  al- 
ready described.  Reflect  upon  the  following  circumstances : 

All  the  nations  of  antiquity,  even  when  cultivated  by  the 
arts  and  sciences,  exhibited  a  certain  savageness  and  in- 
sensibility, a  certain  rudeness  of  character,  especially  to- 
wards foreign  nations  and  strangers.  They  were  very 
destitute  of  that  humanity,  tender  sympathy,  and  hearty  be- 
nevolence, which  ought  to  pervade  every  heart,  bring 
mankind  together,  and  lead  them  mutually  to  assist  each 
other,  and  exert  themselves  in  advancing  each  others  im- 
provement and  happiness.  How  much  soever  they  dif- 
fered in  regard  to  manners  and  customs,  knowledge,  civil 

selves,  for  God  is  every  where  the  author  of  all  that  is  good,  ^ome 
things  indeed,  originate  immediately  with  him,  as  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  N.  Test.,  others  again  mediately,  as  philosophy.  And 
even  this,  he  appears  to  have  imparted  immediately  to  the  Greeks, 
until  they  were  called  by  the  Lord  ;  for  philosophy  led  the  Greeks 
to  Christ,  as  the  law  did  the  Jews."  Vid.  Strom.,  lib.  I.  p.  331,  Pot- 
ter's ed.     [Sylburg's,  p.  282.  Comp.  Neander's  K.  G.,  I.  3.  919  ff.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  123 

regulation^  and  religion,  they  all  evinced  more  or  less  of 
this  hostile  insensibility,  this  inclination  to  cruelty,  this  dis- 
like of  repose,  and  the  gentle  arts  of  peace.  Very  strik- 
ing and  terrific,  however,  does  this  trait  appear  in  the  mode 
of  thinking  peculiar  to  those  who  excited  great  attention, 
and  effected  great  revolutions.  The  causes  of  this  phe- 
nomenon can  easily  be  pointed  out. 

With  those  nations,  which  seldom  or  never  arose  from  a 
state  of  barbarity,  such  as  pastoral  tribes,  and  those  that 
subsisted  entirely  by  hunting  and  fishing,  it  was  almost 
necessarily  the  result  of  their  mode  of  life.  In  such 
a  state,  man  needs  but  little  penetration  or  corporeal 
skill.  He  is  put  in  motion  and  driven  to  action,  sole- 
ly by  the  mechanical  power  of  his  own  animal  desires, 
and  the  impetuosity  of  his  wants,  and  as  soon  as  they 
are  satisfied,  he  sinks  down  into  a  state  of  listlessness 
and  stupidity,  in  which  he  is  altogether  indifferent  to  the 
fate  of  his  fellow  creatures.  In  whatever  he  does,  he  is 
influenced  chiefly,  if  not  entirely  by  the  base  motives  of 
selfishness.  As,  moreover,  the  relations  he  sustains  are  (ew, 
very  lax,  and  seldom  awaken  or  cherish  in  his  bosom  any 
thing  like  friendly  sympathy  and  careful  zeal  for  strangers, 
so  the  important  idea  of  a  common  and  public  weal,  is 
never  developed  or  awakened  in  his  soul.  For  this  ve- 
ry reason,  he  will  never  think  of  extending  his  benefits  far- 
ther than  to  those  nearly  allied  to  him  by  nature,  or  at 
most,  to  the  tribe  to  which  he  belongs.  In  this  state  there- 
for6,  man  is  a  kind  of  ravenous  beast,  full  of  insensibility 
and  cruelty,  towards  every  one  with  whom  he  is  not  par- 
ticularly acquainted,  or  from  whom  he  is  in  any  measure 
afraid  of  receiving  injury.  This  was  the  state  of  far  the 
greatest  part  of  the  human  race,  before  the  time  of  Christ. 

Not  much  better  was  the  condition  of  those  who  lived 
in  bad  civil  governments,  restless  democracies,  tyrannical 
oligarchies,  or  under  despots.  The  entire  history  of  such 
nations  is  usually  made  up  of  violent  changes,  and  internal 
discords  and  commotions,  accompanied  with  the  shedding 
of  human  blood.  In  the  course  of  half  a  century,  they 
often  experienced  revolutions,  which  cost  them  the  lives  of 
a  great  part  of  their  best  citizens.     Almost  daily  were  they 


124 

called  upon  to  witness  examples  of  cruelty  and  oppres- 
sion among  themselves,  and  were  thrown  by  party  spirit 
into  relations  and  embroiled  in  contentions,  which  suffoca- 
ted all  that  true,  mutual  confidence,  which  the  citizens  of  a 
state  ought  to  feel  towards  each  other,  or  rendered  a  cau- 
tious mistrust,  a  kind  of  indispensable  wisdom.  In  par- 
ticular, they  lived  in  circumstances,  in  which  the  causes 
adapted  to  quicken  the  sensibilities,  and  originate  that  dis- 
interested goodness,  which  expands  the  heart  with  benev- 
olence, were  either  altogether  wanting,  or  not  in  sufficient 
operation.  How  would  it  have  been  possible,  then,  for 
the  character  of  such  nations,  not  to  acquire  a  degree 
of  insensibility,  a  kind  of  inclination  for  violent  deeds, 
and  a  marked  indifference  to  human  life  ?  The  religion 
of  such  nations  is  always  as  rude,  savage,  and  cruel,  as 
themselves.  Accustomed  as  they  are  to  tumults  and  blood- 
shed, the  sciences,  even  if  they  flourish,  never  produce 
a  very  powerful  effect  upon  their  hearts,  and  at  most,  only 
soften  here  and  there  a  feeling  soul,  that  lives  in  retire- 
ment, and  is  unnoticed  by  the  crowd.  Riches  and  wealth 
are  employed  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  the  prevailing  taste. 
Such  nations  are  rude  and  cruel  in  their  very  amusements, 
and  can  look  upon  the  shedding  of  human  blood  in  thea- 
tres, as  a  diverting  spectacle. 

Such,  then,  being  the  condition  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
nations  of  antiquity,  even  the  most  celebrated,  it  is  no  won- 
der that  the  enlightened  Greek,  notwithstanding  the  soft 
sensibilities  which  he  had  received  from  nature,  even  when 
his  native  country  was  distinguished  for  cultivating  the 
arts  and  sciences,  and  filled  with  immortal  works,  was  so 
warlike,  so  fond  of  noisy  commotions,  and  so  indifferent 
to  human  blood. 

§  58.  To  all  this,  may  be  added  the  desire  of  conquests, 
and  the  few  interests  which  the  old  nations  had  in  common, 
for  binding  each  other  together.*  It  is  true,  that  com- 
merce had,  at  a  very  early  age,  established  intercourse  be- 
tween the  most  remote  countries,  and  brought  their  inhab- 

*  Corap.  Polybius'  Hist.,  1.  I.  c.  3. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  125 

itants  in  contact  with  each  other.*  Those  nations  of  the 
old  world,  however,  which  were  the  most  noted  for  com- 
merce, under  the  influence  of  selfishness,  sought  not  only  to 
enhance  the  value  of  their  own  markets,  by  usually  laying 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  free  intercourse,  but,  whenever  their 
own  interests  required,  indulged  in  every  kind  of  violence, 
and,  in  opposition  to  the  laws  of  freedom,  entered  into  treat- 
ies with  each  other  for  carrying  on  piracy.f  Besides, 
nearly  all  the  great  nations  of  antiquity  evinced  a  restless 
barbarity,  which  induced  them  to  go  out  as  adventurers 
in  predatory  bands,  and  make  attempts  to  conquer  their 
neighbours,  and  perhaps,  subdue  the  world.  Even  small, 
insignificant  clans  were  engaged  in  constant  warfare  with 
each  other,  and  usually  indulged  in  mutual  hostilities,  un- 
til swallowed  by  some  superior  power.  {  Among  the  rude 
nations  of  remote  antiquity,  it  was  at  all  times  considered 
not  only  as  lawful,  but  honorable,  to  engage  in  warlike  ex- 
cursions into  foreign  countries,  and  make  unexpected  sal- 
lies and  hostile  landings,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  prisoners, 
acquiring  plunder,  and  perpetrating  cruelties.  The  bands 
of  robbers  who  did  such  things  always  had  the  public  con- 
sent, and  sometimes  a  hero  for  their  guide.§     The  great 

*  Heeren's  excellent  work  :  Ideen  Ober  die  Politik,  den  Verkehr, 
und  den  Handel  der  vornehmsten  Volker  der  alten  Welt,  2  Thle. 
8;  [first  ed.,  1793 — 96  ;  in  the  fourth,  to  the  present  time,  6  Bde., 
1824—26,  or  the  Historische  Scriften  von  H.,  Theil  10—15.]  [N.  B. 
This  is  the  same  work,  of  a  part  of  which,  Mr.  Bancroft  has  given  a 
translation,  entitled,  Reflections  on  the  Politics  of  Ancient  Greece. 
Tr.] 

t  For  such  a  treaty  between  the  Carthagjenians  and  Romans,  vid, 
Polybius'  Hist.,  1.  HI.  c.  24,  p.  438,  Schweighaus.  ed.,  and  Heeren's 
Ideen,  Th.  I.  S.  125.  [4th  ed.,  Th.  H.  Abth.  1.  S.  168,  and  Beilage, 
S.  503  ff.,  Histor.  Schriften,  Theil  13.] 

t  What  most  men  call  peace,  Plato,  in  his  work  concerning  laws,  lib. 
I.  S.  7.  Bip.  ed.  [Tom.  VHI.,]  makes  Clinias,  his  Cretensian  friend, 
pronounce  but  an  empty  name;  as  also,  that  most  states  are  by  nature 
constantly  involved  in  war  with  each  other,  though  it  is  not  publicly 
declared  to  be  such.  That  this  is  the  general  principle  upon  which 
the  nations  of  antiquity  acted,  is  evident  from  the  whole  course  of 
history. 

§  The  sacred  Scriptures  are  known  to  contain  examples  of  this 
custom.  Comp.  Michaelis,  Mosaisches  Recht,  Th.  I.  §  40.  S.  247, 
[Smith's  transl.,  Commentaries  on  the  law  of  Moses,  Vol.  I.  Art.  40, 

11* 


126 

migrations  those  nations  had  to  pass  through,  which 
went  out  in  search  of  dwelling  places,  and,  while  on  their 
wajj  carried  on  hostilities  with  those  they  met,  or  drove 
them  before  them,  and  compelled  them  to  make  similar 
changes,  kept  up  the  constant  alternation  of  offensive  and 
defensive  wars,  in  which  almost  all  the  nations  of  antiqui- 
ty were  engaged.  So  long  as  a  state  maintained  no 
standing  army,  each  citizen  was  obliged  to  defend  his  na- 
tive country  for  himself,  and  do  it  under  the  circumstances 
which  I  have  just  described,  and  the  legislature  had  to 
see  that  every  individual  capable  of  bearing  arms,  was 
trained  for  war.  No  system  of  government  having  been 
invented  for  keeping  up  the  balance  of  power,  and  confin- 
ing states  within  the  bounds  of  moderation  ;  justice,  mild 
manners,  and  hearty  and  universal  benevolence,  both  in 
regard  to  nations  and  individuals,  found  too  hard  a  soil  and 
unfavorable  a  sky,  to  flourish.  On  the  other  hand,  a  rough, 
military  spirit  every  where  predominated,  and  exhibited 
itself  in  institutions  and  ceremonies,  laws,  manners,  and 
amusements,  and  nations  were  obliged  to  maintain  a  con- 
stant distance  and  reserve  in  regard  to  each  other,  treat 
each  other  as  strangers,  and  in  a  measure  as  enemies.* 
I  have  no  fears  that  any  person  acquainted  with  anti- 

p.  218  seqq.,  Lond.  1814.  Tr.]  Homer  too  speaks  of  it  more  than 
once  ;  for  example,  Odyss.  1.  III.  v.  73,  at  which  place  Clark's  note 
is  to  be  consulted.  Thucydides  has  judged  very  correctly  upon  the 
subject  in  his  history,  B.  I.  Chap.  V.  and  VI.  His  account  proves 
that  Greece, as  cultivated  as  she  then  was,contained  nations  that  look- 
ed upon  the  bravery  of  robbers  with  commendation,  and  fearlessly 
practised  it.  Altogether  in  the  spririt  of  so  rough  an  age,  is  the  des- 
cription given  by  Caesar  of  the  ancient  Germans,  in  reference  to 
this  custom.  "  Latrocinia,"  says  he,  "  nullam  habent  infamiam, 
quae  extra  fines  cuiusque  ciuitatis  fiunt.  Atque  ea  iuuentutis  exer- 
cendae,  ac  desidiae  minuendae  causa  fieri,  praedicant.  Atque  vbi 
quis  ex  principihus  in  consilio  se  dixit  ducem  fore,  vt,  qui  sequi  velint, 
profiteantur;  consur^unt  ii,  qui  et  causam  et  hominem  probant,  su- 
umque  auxilium  pollicentur,  atque  ab  multitudine  callaudantur :  qui 
ex  iissecuti  non  sunt,  indesertorum  ac  proditorum  numero  ducuntur, 
omniumque  rerum  iis  postea  fides  abrogatur."  De Bel.  Gall.  2.  V.c.23. 

*  Maximus  of  Tyre  has  given  a  description  of  this  evident  defi- 
ciency of  philanthropy  throughout  the  whole  of  antiquity,  in  his  36th 
[in  Reiske  the  6th]  declamation.  His  complaints  are  too  substanti- 
ally grounded  upon  facts,  to  admit  of  our  supposing  them  to  be  the 
yesult  of  mere  rhetorical  phraseology. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  V^     13"        *^  **»  W  *  • 

quity,  will  think  this  painting  unjust.  The  traits  ofw^hf fpQ  g  ^  V*^ 
it  is  composed,  lie  so  obviously  on  the  face  of  history,  tnSt"^-— - 
one  needs  only  to  collect  them  together,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover the  origin  of  this  picture.  Let  a  man  only  call  to 
mind  the  severity  of  the  laws  of  war  among  the  ancients, 
and  the  hard  bondage  to  which  a  great  portion  of  the  hu- 
man race  were  subjected,  and  he  will  be  immediately  led 
to  the  supposition,  that  all  the  nations  of  the  old  world 
were  more  or  less  deficient  in  humanity  and  sensibility, 
and  had  but  little  esteem  for  human  nature.  This  being 
admitted,  from  it  we  may  naturally  draw  the  following  con- 
clusions. 

§  59.  First*  It  is  much  to  be  feared  that  we  shall  meet 
with  few  great  spirits  in  antiquity,  who  extended  their  views 
beyond  their  own  people  and  embraced  other  nations  in 
their  plans  of  benevolence.  Such  enlargement  of  thought 
was  doubtless  a  rare  phenomenon.  The  very  circumstances 
of  the  age  absolutely  confined  men  of  powerful  talents  to 
their  own  native  country,  and  compelled  them  to  look  up- 
on all  other  nations  as  strangers,  with  whom  they  had  noth- 
ing to  do.  He,  who  had  boldly  defended  the  society  to 
which  he  belonged,  given  it  laws,  and  governed  it  in  wis- 
dom, and  thus  been  the  means  of  forming  its  character, 
was  thought  to  have  attained  the  highest  degree  of  honor 
and  renown  ;  and  he  who  engaged  in  any  very  extensive  . 
projects,  perceived  obstacles  in  his  way,  which  could  be 
removed  only  by  the  force  of  arms.  How  then  was  it 
possible  for  that  greatness  of  mind  to  develop  itself,  which 
comprehends  many  nations,  and  takes  the  whole  human 
family  in  its  grasp  ? 

§  60.  Secondly,  If  we  happen  to  discover  such  great- 
ness, it  will  assuredly  be  made  up  of  that  enterprising, 
warlike  spirit,  so  universally  reverenced  by  the  ancients  ; 
if  we  ever  meet  with  a  man  of  bold  enlargement  of  thought, 
we  shall  find  in  him  a  conqueror.  Who  does  not  know 
how  much  this  remark  is  confirmed  by  history  ?  Ninus, 
Sesostris,  Nebuchadnezzar,  Cyrus,*  Alexander,  Demetri- 

*  [In  the  author's  Latin  commentation,  Opuscul.  Academ.,  I.  247, 
he  remarks  respecting  Cyrus  :  Quae  Xenophon  de  Cyro  reliquit,  ea, 


128 

us  the  besieger,  Pyrrhus,  and  others,  are  unquestionable 
examples.  These  spirits  were  indeed  too  great  to  be  con- 
fined within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  districts  of  which  they 
were  the  rightful  lords.  The  compass  of  their  plan,  how- 
ever, agreeably  to  the  prevailing  taste,  which  considered 
boldness  and  military  greatness,  as  something  which  de- 
served the  most  admiration,  and  opened  for  the  hero  a 
way  to  heaven  and  the  rank  of  the  .  gods,  must  have  ex- 
cited in  them  the  desire  of  subduing  all  nations,  while  they 
filled  the  world  with  misery  and  desolation.  The  enlarge- 
ment of  thought,  therefore,  which  they  possessed,  was  so 
different  from  that  which  we  now  have  in  view,  as  to  ren- 
der it  unnecessary  for  us  to  speak  of  it  in  detail.*     Like 

ut  cum  Cicerone  [ad  Quint.  Fratr.  I.  1.  §  8,]  loquar,  non  ad  histo- 
riae  veritatem,  sed  ad  institutionis  exemplum  scripta  sunt.  Cf.  Diog. 
Laert.  1.  III.  segm.  34,  et  Memrgius  ad  h.  1.  Concerning  Caesar, 
cf.  quae  de  animo  Caesaris  disputat,  veterum  auctoritatibus  usus, 
Berger,  in  libro  aureo,  de  naturali  pulcritudineorationis,  p.  84  seqq. 
Verissimum  est  Fergusoni  de  hoc  viro  indicium  :  "  The  object  of 
Caesar's  wishes  was  not  to  be  great  or  good,  but  to  be  the  first,  and 
the  first  in  respect  to  those  things  which  attract  the  admiration  of 
the  multitude ; — the  first  in  a  village,  rather  than  the  second  at 
Rome."  Comp.  Grundsatze  der  Moralphilosophie  Ubers.  v.  Garve, 
Abtheil.  2.  kap.  3.  §  2.  p.  61.] 

,  *  If  the  opinion  of  some  writers,  both  of  ancient  and  modern 
times,  is  correct,  then  Alexander  is  to  be  excepted  from  the  number 
of  these  destructive  ravagers  of  the  world.  They  impute  to  this  re- 
ally wonderful  man,  a  plan  of  the  most  benevolent  character,  and  as- 
sert, that  he  intended  to  impart  Grecian  cultivation  to  the  whole 
human  family,  found  a  confederacy  of  all  nations,  and,  by  the  erec- 
tion of  a  universal  monarchy,  make  security,  affluence,  and  happi- 
ness, universal.  Vid.  Plutarch,  De  fortuna  vel  virtute  Alexandri, 
Orat.  I.  p.  311,  Reisk.  ed.  [Vol.  VII.,]  and  an  anonymous  writer,  to 
whom'Arrian  appeals,  De  Exped.  Alex.  M.,  1.  VII.  from  the  begin- 
ning; also  Robertson's  Hist,  of  Amer,,  Vol.  I.  p.  16  seqq.;  and  his 
Historical  Disquisition  concerning  the  knowledge  which  the  an- 
cients had  of  India,  p.  12  seqq.,  Lond.  and  Ed.,  1818.  That  Alexander 
connected  many  benevolent  purposes  with  his  ambitious  plans,  we 
may  be  assured  from  the  goodness  of  his  natural  disposition,  the 
rational  education  he  received,  and  his  having  constantly  associ- 
ated with  philosophers  and  wise  men.  That  the  ultimate  goal  of 
his  enterprises,  however,  was  a  benevolent  plan,  no  one  will  be- 
lieve, who  takes  into  impartial  consideration,  his  fool-hardy  con- 
duct, and  especially  the  vices  and  cruelties  of  which  he  was  guilty, 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  Arrian  makes  a  very  correct  remark 
to  this  effect,  in  the  passage  quoted. 


DEVISED    BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  129 

a  hurricane,  it  caused  mankind  to  tremble,  but  it  did  not 
render  them  happy.  We  should  be  ungrateful  indeed  not 
to  admit  that  Providence  educed  good  out  of  these  evils, 
and  in  the  end  made  them  promotive  of  the  general  wel- 
fare of  mankind.  This  circumstance,  however,  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  present  subject.  We  are  now  in  search 
of  those,  who,  under  the  guidance  of  wisdom,  and  in  con- 
formity with  their  own  resolutions,  became  the  immediate 
benefactors  of  the  human  race,*  and  to  this  worthy  class 
they  certainly  do  not  belong. 

Such  then  being  the  stale  of  things  and  the  mode  of 
thinking  among  the  ancients,  it  is,  in  the  third  place,  high- 
ly probable,  that  we  shall  not  find  a  man  among  them,  who 
was  capable  of  that  extension  of  thought,  that  expansive 
goodness,  that  tender  benevolence,  from  which  originated 
the  plan  of  Jesus  that  we  have  already  described.  What 
can  justify  us  in  hoping  to  make  such  an  agreeable  dis- 
covery, since,  circumstances  being  as  they  were,  it  is  im- 
possible to  see  by  what  causes  such  a  spirit  could  have 
been  produced  ?  Dispositions,  feelings,  and  plans  of  such 
a  benevolent  character,  were  by  no  means  agreeable  to  the 
taste  which  prevailed  in  the  old  military  world,  and  there- 
fore in  all  probability  not  to  be  met  with  in  it.  For  the 
honor  of  humanity,  we  should  hope  to  light  upon  men 
among  the  ancients,  who,  to  a  certain  extent,  possessed 
these  dispositions  and  feelings,  and,  under  the  influence  of 
genuine  benevolence,  became  the  creators,  defenders, 
teachers,  and  fathers  of  the  nations  to  which  they  belong- 
ed. If  so,  however,  we  shall  doubtless  always  find  them 
very  limited  and  cautious  in  their  undertakings,  in  compa- 
rison with  what  is  to  be  expected  from  such  a  comprehen- 
sive spirit  of  benevolence  as  that  which  we  discovered  in 
our  examination  of  Christ's  plan.f    From  this  general  con- 

*  [In  the  Latin  commentation,  S.  247,  reference  is  farther  mad© 
to  Seneca,  De  Benefice,!.  I.  c.  13,  and  Thomas  Abbt,  Vom  Verdien- 
Bte,  S.  216  ff.] 

t "  Human  excellence,"  says  Maximus,  in  the  discourse  quoted,  "  is 
not  only  far  inferior  to  divine  in  general,  but  particularly  in  reference 
to  extensive  benevolence.    No  human  being  in  this  respect  embracea 


130 

sideration,  therefore,  there  is  much  reason  even  now  to 
believe,  that  Jesus  stands  alone  and  without  example,  on 
an  elevation  which  none  before  him  ever  attempted  to 
reach. 

§  61.  There  is  another  circumstance,  however,  which 
belongs  to  this  place,  and  must  strengthen  us  in  this  con- 
jecture. The  very  character  of  the  religions  of  antiquity 
appears  to  have  been  extremely  prejudicial  to  that  public 
spirit,  that  expansive  benevolence,  from  which  originated 
the  plan  of  the  Author  of  Christianity,  and  to  have  sup- 
pressed it  in  the  greatest  minds.  Reflect  upon  the  follow- 
ing circumstances. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  ancients,  in  general,  agreed 
to  a  certain  extent  in  contemplating  the  Deity,  of  whom 
they  had  a  great  variety  of  representations,  such  as  imag- 
es and  pictures,  in  a  terrific  point  of  view,  and  considered 
him  more  as  a  being  before  whose  anger  they  were  to 
tremble,  than  as  a  benefactor  and  father,  worthy  of  the 
utmost  confidence  and  love.  That  this  was  almost  al- 
ways the  case  with  rude  nations,  we  know  full  well,  and 
a  great  part  of  the  anterior  world  was  very  rude.*  Un- 
questionable traces  of  this  mode  of  thinking  are  exhibit- 
ed in  the  languages  of  the  ancients,  for  most  of  the  names 
which  they  appropriated  to  the  Deity  are  significant  of  his 
almightiness,  independence,  and  unHmited,  incontrolable 
will,  and,  in  reference  to  it,  imply,  that  nothing  remains 
for  the  weak  creature  of  the  dust  but  submission.  So 
much  do  their  religious  notions  hang  upon  these  represen- 
tations, that  many  have  considered  it  as  a  proof  that  their 
whole  religion  took  its  rise  in  fear,  and  all  their  concep- 
tions of  the  Deity  sprung  from  terror  at  the  great  and 
powerful  changes  that  take  place  in  nature.f    Nations  and 

his  whole  race,  but  each  one,  like  the  hearts  of  a  single  tribe,  always 
confines  himself  to  his  own  fellow  citizens ;  and  it  is  a  great  thing, 
if  he  comprehends  even  these  as  a  body.  Vid.  p.  368,  Davis,  ed. 
[Reisk.,  I.  86.]  The  truth  of  this  remark  is  hereafter  very  clearly 
established. 

*  With  respect  to  this  remark,  comp,  Home's  Sketches  of  the  Hist, 
of  Man,  Vol.  HI.  B.  3.  Sk.  3.  Chap.  U.  269,  ed.  1807. 

t  Vid.  I^ucretiils,  De  Rerum  Nat.  1.  V.  1317—1239. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  131 

individuals  generally  furnished  the  Deity  with  their  own 
views,  inclinations,  and  characters,  and  hence  originated 
that  almost  endless  variety  of  distinctions,  at  all  times  con- 
nected in  their  minds  with  the  idea  of  God.  Now  as  all 
the  nations  of  the  old  world  exhibited  a  certain  degree  of 
roughness,  inflexibility,  and  inclination  to  cruelty  and  re- 
venge, we  need  not  be  astonished  if  we  find  that  th^ir 
gods  also  possessed  these  qualities,  were  governed  by  uh- 
happy  passions,  and  could  with  satisfaction  see  their  altars 
smoke  with  human  blood.*  So  long,  however,  as  the 
soul  is  pervaded  by  such  opinions  respecting  the  godhead, 
it  is  impossible  for  it  to  put  forth  that  unlimited  kindness, 
that  heavenly  desire  of  doing  good  as  far  as  able,  to  all. 
That  heart  only  will  be  warm  with  benevolence  towards 
mankind  without  distinction,  and  active  in  promoting  the 
general  good,  which  looks  upon  God  as  a  kind  and  com- 
mon parent,  and  considers  every  human  being  as  his  child 

*  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  deny  that  many  philosophers,  especially 
Socrates,  Plato,  and  the  Stoics,  had  better  and  purer  notions  of  the 
Deity,  and  looked  upon  him  as  a  good  being,  exercising  a  wise  and 
ceaseless  care  for  the  welfare  of  mankind.  These  notions,  however, 
did  not  enter  into  the  religion  of  the  people,  and  so  incapable  were 
these  men  of  reforming,  or  supplanting  the  wretched  popular  relig- 
ion prevalent,  that  they  combined  a  part  of  the  general  superstition 
with  their  best  principles,  and  endeavored  to  give  it  a  tolerable 
meaning.  [According  to  Stollberg's  Reise  in  Italien,  II.  267,  the 
finest  ancient  statues  of  the  gods,  exhibit  an  expression  of  lifeless- 
ness  and  want  of  love,  which  indicates  that  the  prevailing  feeling  of 
antiquity  in  regard  to  the  Deity,  was  fear.  The  passage  rurjs  thus  : 
"  Most  of  the  heads  of  the  old  statues,  whether  of  gods  or  men,  males 
or  females,  are  distinguished  for  a  certain  character  of  hardness, 
want  of  sympathy  and  troubled  melancholy,  which  approaches  al- 
most to  anger.  If  I  mistake  not,  a  conception  of  transitoriness  and 
of  death  as  a  long  sleep  {TavtiX^yiog  ^avaxoio,)  produced  an  effect  up- 
on the  imagination  of  the  heathen  artist ; — an  elFect  in  different  ways, 
according  as  he  gave  himself  up  to  this  impression  or  strove  to 
harden  himself  against, — an  effect,  which  was  transferred  by  the 
arm  and  chisel  of  the  artist,  from  his  heart  to  the  marble.  In  confir- 
mation of  this,  I  appeal  to  the  feelings  of  every  unprejudiced  man, 
who  has  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  art  of  the  ancients  from 
copper-plates  alone.  Even  the  features  of  those  of  their  gods  that 
were  clothed  with  immortal  youth,  seem  to  be  overcast  with  a  dark 
cloud,  the  conception  of  death."  Comp.  Rom.  8:  15,  which  was  not 
true  of  the.  Jews  alone  ;  tp^ovtoov  to  -d^nov,  Herodot.,  I.  c.  32.  III. 
c.  40.] 


132 

and  as  a  brother.  It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  the 
founder  of  Christianity  was  the  first  to  pubUsh  such  views 
of  God,  and  propagate  them  even  among  the  lowest  class- 
es of  society.  It  will  be  difficult,  therefore,  for  us  in  anti- 
quity, to  meet  with  that  benevolent  enlargement  of  thought, 
which  has  a  very  close  and  intimate  connexion  with  them. 

To  all  these  it  may  now*be  added,  that  every  nation 
of  antiquity  had  its  own  gods,  and  its  own  method  of  wor- 
shipping them,  accompanied  with  peculiar  rites  and  forms; 
that  one  nation  considered  that  as  holy  which  another 
detested  ;  that  one  gave  divine  honor  to  a  creature  which 
another  despised,  or  at  best  treated  as  common  ;  that  this 
opinion  respecting  national  gods,  necessarily  created  a  kind 
of  hatred  between  nations,  as  they  differed  from  each  oth- 
er exactly  in  that  point,  which  they  looked  upon  as  the 
most  sacred  and  important  ;*  and  finally,  that  this  hatred 
must  have  taken  a  firm  hold  of  the  hearts  of  the  ignorant 
populace,  their  zeal  in  such  cases  easily  degenerating  into 
a  fury  that  knows  no  bounds. t  These  additional  circum- 
stances being  taken  into  view,  it  will  be  evident,  as  I  think^ 
that  the  religions  of  antiquity  interposed  insuperable  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  that  goodness  which  embraces  all  man- 
kind. Hence,  if,  notwithstanding  the  character  of  the  an- 
cient world,  we  should  be  able  to  discover  in  it,  a  mind 
which  was  capable  of  that  enlargement  of  thought,  which 
shines  forth  so  conspicuously  in  the  plan  of  Jesus,  we 
should  be  obliged  to  look  upon  it  as  a  kind  of  psychologi- 
cal wonder.  { 

§  62.  We  shall,  however,  not  confine  ourselves  any 
longer  to  general  considerations.     Let  us  now  proceed  to 

*  Vid.  a  fine  passage  upon  this  subject  in  Athanasius,  Contra  Gen- 
tes,  p.  25,  26. 

t  The  ancient  history  of  the  Egyptians  furnishes  us  with  examples. 
The  murder  of  a  sacred,  old  cat,  whether  done  intentionally  or  not, 
would  excite  the  populace  to  a  degree  of  rage,  which  could  be  allay- 
ed only  by  shedding  the  blood  of  him  who  committed  the  deed. 
[Diodor.  Sicul.,  I.  c.  83,  Bip.,  p.  246.] 

t  Comp.  Iselin,  Geschichte  der  Menscheit,  B.  IV.  ^ap.  X.  XI. 
S.  421  ff: 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  133 

an  examination  of  those  benefactors  of  the  human  race 
which  made  their  appearance  before  the  author  of  Chris- 
tianity, and,  from  a  survey  of  their  enterprises  and  plans, 
endeavor  to  ascertain  whether  history  furnishes  us  with 
any,  who  exhibited  such  greatness  and  benevolence  in 
their  thoughts  and  actions,  as  Jesus. 

The  men,  as  I  think,  whom  we  are  to  look  upon  as  the 
benefactors  of  mankind,  and  among  whom  we  must  search 
for  great  plans  for  the  good  of  the  world,  are  the  founders 
of  states,  and  legislators ;  defenders  of  their  native  country, 
and  benevolent  heroes ;  wise  kings,  and  statesmen  ;  phi- 
losophers, teachers  of  the  human  race,  and  the  founders 
of  religions.  We  shall  make  some  particular  remarks  re- 
specting each  of  these  classes. 


Founders  of  states,  and  legislators. 

§  62.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  create  a  nation  by  col- 
lecting together  a  mass  of  wild,  uncultivated  people,  bind- 
ing them  together  with  salutary  laws,  and  animating  them 
with  the  spirit  of  order  and  mutual  good  will ;  or  to  reunite 
the  severed  fragments  of  a  state,  which  has  once  fallen  to 
ruins,  and  is  full  of  internal  discord,  and,  by  means  of  bet- 
ter laws,  impart  to  the  whole  new  strength,  harmonious  ef- 
ficiency, and  lasting  connexion.  There  are  difficulties 
inseparable  from  such  a  work.  He  who  is  acquainted 
with  them,  will  admire  those  spirits  of  antiquity  which  en- 
gaged in  it,  and,  though  they  may  have  committed  great 
errors,  and  in  a  measure  failed  in  their  undertakings,  must 
acknowledge  and  highly  prize  the  courage  that  could  ven- 
ture upon  such  important  business,  as  well  as  the  pene- 
trating views  which  originated  and  arranged  their  plans, 
and  the  superiority  and  activity  which  carried  them  into 
execution.  Now  the  numerous  difficulties  which  encom- 
pass a  plan  of  this  kind,  even  when  confined  to  a  very 
small  nation,  entirely  discourage  us  from  expecting  to  find 
one  of  any  greater  magnitude  among  the  founders  of  states, 
12 


134 

and  the  legislators  of  antiquity.  The  education  of  their 
own  countrymen  required  all  their  wisdom,  time,  and  ef- 
forts. In  resolving  to  devote  themselves  to  this  particular 
object,  they  had,  as  it  were,  renounced  every  plan  of  more 
general  extent,  and,  I  may  say,  devoted  all  their  powers 
to  acquiring  the  most  accurate  information  of  a  definite 
subject.  They  were  obliged  to  avail  themselves  of  those 
measures  which  were  called  for  by  the  circumstances 
of  the  nation  to  which  they  belonged  and  its  relation  to 
other  nations,  and  were  calculated  to  form  that  charac- 
ter which  it  was  to  sustain,  and  of  course  such  as  could 
not  be  adapted  to  other  nations  or  mankind  at  large. 
Finally,  the  work  in  which  they  were  engaged,  forced 
them  to  descend  to  so  many  views  and  measures,  hav- 
ing respect  to  individuals  and  particulars,  as  to  dis- 
qualify them,  just  so  far  as  they  were  faithful  to  their 
own  people,  from  entering  into  the  affairs  of  other  na- 
tions. One  of  the  most  important  resolutions,  however, 
that  a  man  can  make,  is  to  reform  a  whole  nation,  and,  by 
means  of  salutary  laws,  render  its  descendants  happy,  to 
the  latest  generations.  The  plans  of  these  men,  therefore, 
in  themselves  considered,  are  always  great,  and  worthy  of 
exalted  spirits.  But  if  a  plan  which  aims  at  the  welfare 
of  a  single  nation,  when  contemplated  alone,  appears  so 
great,  how  small  and  insignificant  must  it  appear,  when 
viewed  in  comparison  with  the  plan  formed  by  Jesus  for 
the  good  of  all  mankind  ! 

Now  such  was  the  narrow  sphere  to  which,  according 
to  the  representations  of  history,  all  the  old  founders  of 
states,  and  the  legislators  of  antiquity,  were  confined.  The 
beginning  of  most  kingdoms  was  small  and  insignificant. 
Their  first  laws  and  regulations  usually  originated  in 
chance  and  pressing  necessity,  and  of  course  were  enact- 
ments for  the  occasion,  rather  than  the  constituent  parts 
of  an  original  and  well  contrived  plan.  The  time  of  ac- 
tual legislation  almost  always  came  on  at  a  later  period, 
and  not  until  people  began  to  perceive,  that  the  laws  and 
observances  which  had  arisen  at  different  times,  were  very 
defective,  had  but  little  connexion,  agreement,  and  dura- 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  135 

bility,  and,  if  not  amended,  would  prove  prejudicial  to  a 
part  of  the  state  or  to  the  whole  body,  in  proportion  as  it 
came  to  maturity.  When,  however,  the  period  actually  ar- 
rived for  a  more  general,  perfect,  and  systematic  legisla- 
tion, the  ground  plot  marked  out  for  the  purpose,  was  al- 
most always  more  limited  than  it  should  have  been.  In- 
deed, antiquity  does  not  furnish  us  w^ith  a  single  legislator, 
who  gave  his. country  laws  and  regulations,  which  appear 
to  have  had  any  reference  to  the  welfare  of  other  nations, 
or  been  founded  upon  a  plan,  which  originated  in  wisdom, 
design,  and  benevolence,  of  greater  extent  than  we  have 
described. 

§  63.  It  is  true  that  the  Romans  thought  they  found 
decisive  marks  among  the  nations  of  heathen  antiquity,  in- 
dicating that  they  had  been  destined,  even  from  those  re- 
mote ages,  in  which  their  history  was  lost  in  the  obscurity 
of  fable,  to  become  the  rulers  of  the  world.  This  thought 
is  also  known  to  have  produced  a  powerful  effect  upon 
them,  and  greatly  to  have  contributed  to  raise  them  to  that 
degree  of  power  and  authority,  to  which  they  afterwards 
attained.  It  did  not  originate,  however,  with  the  founder 
of  this  nation.  Romulus  certainly  never  had  the  great 
object,  the  immense  plan  in  view,  of  giving  his  rising 
state  such  regulations  as  should,  in  the  sequel,  enable  it  to 
swallow  up  all  others.*  This  thought  originated  in  a  lie  of 
necessity,  which  was  first  confirmed  by  a  false  oath,  and 
afterwards  maintained  by  superstition,  by  which  means, 
however,  it  acquired  a  sufficient  degree  of  honorable  au- 
thority, to  produce  a  permanent  impression  upon  the  rough 

*  Several  writers,  indeed,  as  Plutarch  observes,  have  been  inclin- 
ed to  attribute  something  of  the  kind,  to  this  founder  of  the  Roman 
empire.  But  Plutarch  himself  rejects  the  supposition  as  improbable, 
and  gives  a  perfectly  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  seizure  of  the 
Sabine  women,  in  which  Romulus  engaged,  and  which  these  writers, 
strangely  enough,  would  deduce  from  his  great  plan,  by  recurring  to 
the  condition  of  the  city,  which  had  then  hardly  begun  to  exist.  In 
Romul.  e.  XIV.  p.  103,  Reisk.ed.  [Vol.  I.]  [Plutarch's  Lives,  trans- 
lated by  Langhorne,  &c..  Vol.  I.  p.  40,  Phil.,  1822.  Tr.]  Comp.  also 
Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  Antiquit.  Rom.,  1.  II.  cap.  31.  p.  301, 
Eeisk.  ed. 


136 

and  warlike  hearts  of  the  Romans.*  The  first  Roman 
legislator,  the  peaceful  Noma,  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  very  favorable  to  this  opinion,  for  he  evidently  in- 
tended, out  of  his  Romans,  to  form  a  quiet  and  happy 
nation. t  Nor  can  we  say  that  express  reference  was  had 
to  it,  in  the  formation  of  laws  in  after  times.  Indeed,  the 
Roman  constitution  was  always  destitute  of  proper  stabili- 
ty, and  so  deficient  as  to  its  entire  groundwork,  in  unity 
and  lasting  connexion,  that  it  was  necessary  for  it  to  un- 
dergo the  most  important  changes  to  accommodate  it  to 
circumstances. {  The  thought,  therefore,  that  Rome  was 
to  become  the  mistress  of  the  world,  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  sustained  by  legislation,  or  to  have  served  as  a 
guide  in  the  formation  of  laws  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  often  served  rather  to  divest  the  constitution  of  its  un- 
happy influence,  by  binding  the  people  in  all  their  difficul- 
ties with  the  government,  in  some  measure,  to  the  state.§ 
If  we  admit,  however,  that  Rome  ever  had  a  legislator, 
who,  in  anticipation,  devised  the  very  extensive  plan  of 
giving  his  nation  a  constitution,  which  should  prove  the 
means  of  making  it  the  first  nation  on  the  globe,  even  this 

*  To  this  place  belong  the  accounts  taken  from  Livy's  Hist.,  1. 1,  c. 
XVI.  and  LV.,  and  also  the  remarks  of  Plutarch,  in  Romul.,  c. 
XXVIII.  p.  139  seq.  [Plutarch's  Lives,  translated  by  Langhorne, 
&c.,Vol.  I.  p.  57,  Tr.]  Speaking  in  this  place,  of  the  powerful  effect 
which  this  well  known  fiction  of  Proculus  is  said  to  have  produced, 
Plutarch  says ;  "  It  gained  credit  with  the  Romans,  who  were 
caught  with  enthusiasm,  as  if  they  had  actually  been  inspired  ;  and,, 
far  from  contradicting  what  they  had  heard,  they  bade  adieu  to  all 
their  suspicions  of  its  authenticity,  united  in  deifying  Quirinus,  and 
addressed  their  devotions  to  him,  as  a  new,  tutelar  god  of  the  nation." 
What  was  better  calculated  to  fill  a  nation  as  rough  and  warlike  as 
the  Romans  of  that  day  were,  with  fiery  zeal,  than  a  miracle  so  flat- 
tering to  their  passions  ? 

t  Plutarch  infers  this  very  correctly  from  the  regulations  of  this 
king  in  general,  and  particularly  from  the  manner  in  which  he  fa- 
vored agriculture ;  in  Numa,  c.  VIII.  p.  254,  and  c.  XVI.  p.  282. 
[Reisk.  Vol.  I.]   [Plutarch's  Lives,  ed.  as  above.  Vol.  I.  p.  118.  Tr.] 

t  This  is  said  in  express  terms  by  Polybius,  that  sagacious  judge 
of  the  history  of  Rome  and  its  constitution,  in  Reliquiis  lib.  Hist., 
VI.  p.  478.  Tom.  II.  Schweighaus.  ed. 

§  Vid.  Plutarch  in  CamiU.,  c.  XXXI.  p.  561.  [Reisk.  Vol.  I.] 
[Plutarch's  Lives,  &c.  Vol.  I.  p.  227.  Tr.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  1  o7 

would  not  be  the  plan  for  which  we  are  seeking,  but  evi- 
dently the  project  of  a  conqueror,  prejudicial  to  happiness 
and  repose,  and  evincing  more  roughness  and  savage  bar- 
barity, than  true  wisdom  and  nobleness  of  spirit.  Indeed, 
it  was  the  idea  of  universal  dominion,  so  peculiar  to  the 
Romans,  which  cherished  in  them  that  insatiable  desire  of 
war,  which  did  so  much  mischief  to  the  best  part  of  the 
world,  and  could  not  be  satisfied  with  torrents  of  human 
blood.* 

§  64.  I  dare  not  declare  the  assertion,  made  with 
such  positiveness,  by  the  author  of  a  book  respecting 
the  happiness  of  nations,  that  all  civil  governments  ori- 
ginated in  violence  and  strength,  to  be  perfectly  cor- 
rect.f  Perhaps  many  arguments  can  be  adduced  from 
history  in  proof  of  the  contrary.  This  author,  however,  is 
unquestionably  correct  in  saying,  that  all  the  civil  govern- 


*  This  cannot  be  said  in  fewer  words  and  a  better  manner,  than 
Tacitus  makes  his  Calgacus  express  it :  ''  Raptores  orbis  (Romani) 
postquam  cuncta  vastantibus  defuere  terrae,  et  mare  scrutantur  ;  si 
locuples  hostis  est,  auari ;  si  pauper,  ambitiosi ;  quos  non  Oriens, 
non  Occidens  satiauerit ;  soli  omnium  opes  atque  inopiam  pari  afFec- 
tu  concupiscunt.  Auferre,  trucidare,  rapere,  falsis  nominibus  im- 
perium,  atque  vbi  solitudinem  faciunt,  pacem  appeUant.  In  vi- 
ta Agricol.,  c.  30.  [Much  instruction  upon  this  subject  is  contain- 
ed in  Richter's  two  programmata ;  "  Quae  impedimenta  offece- 
rint  sensui  humanitatis  in  iuvenibus  Romanis  excitando,"  Guben 
1803  and  1804  ;  where  it  is  shown,  that  the  cultivation  of  humanity- 
was  hindered,  not  only  by  the  warlike  spirit  that  universally  prevail- 
ed among  the  Romans,  but  also  by  their  whole  military  constitution, 
which  so  often  called  the  citizens  to  arms,  and  smothered  all  human 
feelings,  as  well  as  by  the  severity  of  paternal  government,  the  state 
of  slavery,  and  the  furious  combats  in  vogue.  The  desire  of  a  tri- 
umph cherished  in  them  a  love  of  murder  and  war,  and  the  solemni- 
ties with  which  one  was  celebrated,  filled  them  with  pride.  For  a 
long  time,  the  arts  and  sciences  were  not  cultivated  at  all,  and  even 
at  a  later  date,  they  were  really  esteemed  and  zealously  attended  to  but 
by  a  few,  and  hence  they  could  never  produce  their  entire,  legitimate 
effect.  The  Romans  had  such  an  exalted  opinion  of  their  own 
worth,  that  they  despised  all  other  nations,  and  treated  them  with 
contempt ;  and  even  their  religion  was  calculated  to  foster  arrogance 
and  propagate  rudeness  of  manners.] 

t  De  la  Felicite  publique  ou  Considerations  sur  le  sort  dcs  Hom- 
mes  dans  les  difFerentes  Epoques  de  I'Histoire,  Tom.  I.  p.  6. 

12* 


138 

ments  of  antiquity,  the  Israelitish  alone  excepted,  were 
modelled  chiefly  with  reference  to  offensive  and  defensive 
war,  and  that  legislators,  as  a  body,  were  at  particular 
pains  to  cherish  a  certain  warlike  spirit  among  their  coun- 
trymen, and  inspire  them  with  dispositions  and  feelings, 
rather  hostile  towards  other  nations,  than  benevolent. 
Their  attempts  to  soften  the  rough  wildness  of  their  fel- 
low citizens,  and  excite  in  them  sociable  and  humane  in- 
clinations, had  no  immediate  reference  to  strangers,  but 
were  merely  intended  to  prevent  those  gross  outbreakings 
of  cruelty,  which  would  necessarily  prove  destructive  to 
order  and  harmony,  if  suffered  to  exist  in  the  bosom  of 
society.  Most  legislators  were  obliged  to  content  them- 
selves, if  they  accomplished  even  this  limited  object, 
and  succeeded  in  instilling  into  the  rude  multitudes,  which 
they  sought  to  tame,  any  love  to  the  common  good,  any 
forbearance  towards  those  with  whom  they  were  immedi- 
ately connected.^  Few  went  so  far  as  to  think  of  what 
they  owed  to  strangers.  Very  many,  on  the  other  hand, 
labored  to  keep  such  duties  out  of  the  view  of  their  fellow 
creatures ; — a  fact  which  shines  forth  with  such  clearness 
from  some  of  their  civil  constitutions,  as  to  fill  us  with 
aversion  and  horror,  at  the  indifference  which  these  legis- 
lators must  have  felt  to  other  nations,  and  to  human  blood. 
Of  this,  the  Lacedemonians  present  us  with  a  notable  ex- 
ample. One  cannot  indeed  refrain  from  admiring  the 
penetrating  mind  of  the  legislator,  who  could  devise  and 
execute  a  plan,  w^hich  would  certainly  have  been  declared 
chimerical,  had  it  not  been  followed  in  Sparta.f  It  is 
easy  to  perceive,  however,  that  his  system  of  laws,  though 
it  has  often  been  admired,  exhibits  but  little  goodness  of 


*Comp.  Heyne's  treatise,  entitled,  "  Delibantur  nonnulla  in  vitae 
humanae  initiis  a  primis  Graeciae  legumlatoribus  ad  morum  mansu- 
etudinem  sapienter  instituta,"  in  the  Opusc.  Academ.,  Tom.  I.  p.  207 
seqq.,  which,  notwithstanding  its  great  brevity,  contains  matter, 
enough  for  more  extensive  contemplations  upon  this  subject. 

*  Vid.  Plutarch  in  Lycurg.,  c.  XXXI.  p.  233,  [Reisk.  Vol.  I.] 
[Plutarch's  lives  &e.  Vol.  I.  p.  97.  Tr.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  139 

heart,  little  humanity  and  benevolence.*  Now  this  lack  of 
humanity,  this  inclination  to  oppression  and  violence,  was 
absolutely  favored  and  justified  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
by  all  the  ancient  constitutions,  so  far  as  we  are  acquainted 
with  them.  Even  that  of  the  Egyptians,  which  was  the 
most  peaceful  of  them  all,  inculcated  upon  its  citizens  a 


*  The  ancients  themselves  have  said  much  upon  this  subject  that 
is  correct.  Vid.  Isocrates  here  and  there,  especially  in  his  Panathe- 
naicon ;  also  the  well  known  funeral  discourse  of  Pericles  in  Thu- 
cidides,  1.  II.  c.  37  ff.  Later  writers  have  exhibited  this  in  a  still 
clearer  light ;  for  example,  the  author  of  the  work  just  named,  Sur  la 
Felicite  publique,  Tom.  I.  p.  59  ss.,  and  Abbt's  Letters  upon  jncd- 
crn  literature,  Th.  XXII.  S.  93  ff.  De  Pauw,  in  his  Recherches 
philosophiques  sur  les  Grecs,  Tom.  II.  part  IV.  p.  231  ss.,  has,  un- 
questionably, exaggerated  the  matter;  to  him,  therefore,  I  will  not 
presume  to  appeal.  [Nast  has  shown,  in  a  very  convincing  manner^ 
in  his  treatise  upon  the  excellencies  and  the  defects  of  the  Lycurgian 
legislation  and  state  constitution,  Kleine  akadem.  Geleg.  Schriften,L 
nr.  5,  Tub.,  1820,  how  completely  they  were  modelled  with  reference 
exclusively  to  the  virtue  of  Sparta  and  her  citizens,  and  how  much 
the  object  which  Lycurgus  had  in  view,  when  compared  with  that 
of  humanity,  deserves  our  most  hearty  disapprobation.  According 
to  Zofiga,  Ueber  Lykurg  und  die  Sparter,  (Abhandlungen,  herausg-. 
V.  Welcker,  Gott.  1817,  S.  316 — 324,)  a  more  unhappy  people  than 
the  Laconians  were,  could  hardly  be  found.  Their  constitution  was 
calculated  to  advance  the  welfare  of  a  few,  at  the  misery  and  expense 
of  the  multitude.  Manso  in  his  classical  work,  5par<«,  Ein  Versuch 
zur  Aufklarung  der  Geschichte  und  Verfassung  dieses  Staates,  B. 
3.  Th.  1.  at  the  end,  L.  1800 — 1805,  thus  concludes  his  investiga- 
tions :  "As  to  his  worth,  in  relation  to  the  world  and  to  human- 
ity, there  can  be  no  doubt.  Not  a  flower  sprung  up  in  Laconian 
soil,  that  acquired  healthful  strength  or  fragrant  growth,  and  nei- 
ther the  gladdening  voice  of  the  poet  has  come  down  to  us  from 
thence,  nor  have  the  obscurities  of  nature  and  the  depths  of  the 
human  mind,  received  newliglit  from  the  investigations  of  any  of  its 
wise  men  ;  but  the  nation  itself  stands  before  us  as  an  instructive 
and  warning  example,  and  as  such  speaks  in  an  audible  voice.  It 
has  solved  a  problem  not  so  unnatural  as  not  at  least  to  have  been 
once  taken  up,  put  into  practice,  and  brought  to  a  result,  in  a  man- 
ner which  clearly  shows  what  part  of  it  lies  within  the  limits  of  at- 
tainableness,  and  how  far  it  can  be  performed.  As  often  as  the  his- 
torian and  philosopher  speak  of  heroic  virtues  and  the  means  of  ad- 
vancing them,  they  will  make  mention  of  this  Spartan,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  his  legislation.  Whenever  they  glance  at  the  higher  ob- 
jects to  which  man  is  to  attain,  and  the  harmonious  development 
and  formation  of  all  the  faculties  in  his  possession,  they  will  think 
with  admiration  upon  the  man,  who  even  sacrificed  himself  for  the 
state,  but  they  will  hardly  dwell  upon  him  with  love."] 


140  NO  PLAN  LIKE  CHRIST's 

certain  dislike  and  contempt  of  strangers,  altogether  incon- 
sistent with  the  laws  of  philanthropy.  But  what  is  the  re- 
sult of  these  remarks  ?  Unquestionably  this;  that  Numa, 
Solon,  Lycurgus,  and  Pythagoras,  whose  school  produced 
so  many  wise  legislators  and  statesmen,  as  well  as  many 
other  great  men  of  antiquity,  did  indeed  possess  minds  of 
extraordinary  capacities,  and  deserve  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  for  having  in  some 
measure  civilized  their  countrymen,  and  delivered  them 
from  a  terrible  state  of  anarchy  and  barbarity ;  but  that 
among  them  all,  we  do  not  find  one  who  devised  a  plan  of 
such  dignity,  useful  qualities,  and  extent,  as  we  have  al- 
ready discovered  in  that  of  Jesus.  It  appears  not  to  have 
been  agreeable  to  the  taste  of  the  greatest  legislators  of 
antiquity,  to  awaken  and  cherish  benevolent  and  philan- 
thropical  dispositions  and  feelings  among  their  fellow  citi- 
zens, towards  those  who  lived  without  the  borders  of 
their  own  native  country.  With  all  their  greatness  in 
other  respects,  in  this,  they  were  narrow  hearted,  con- 
tracted, and  selfish. 


Heroes  and  defenders  of  their  country. 

§  65.  We  now  proceed  to  that  class  which  consists  of 
heroes  and  defenders  of  their  native  country.  I  have  al- 
ready remarked,  that  I  do  not  here  speak  of  those  con- 
querors and  disturbers  of  human  happiness  and  repose, 
who  carried  on  war,  in  order  to  satisfy  a  wild  ambition, 
which,  like  a  kind  of  delirium,  excited  them  to  engage  in 
monstrous  enterprises.  I  here  refer  solely  to  those  benev- 
olent heroes  of  antiquity,  who  magnanimously  defended 
their  native  countries,  and  nobly  avenged  the  cause  of  op- 
pressed innocence.  They  were  undoubtedly  men  of  ex- 
traordinary facuhies,  and  accustomed  to  forming  and  ex- 
ecuting plans  of  importance.  How  much  soever  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  labored  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their 
fellow  creatures,  appears  to  have  differed  from  that  of 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  141 

Jesus,  they  must  not  be  entirely  passed  over,  for  the  ob- 
ject of  our  inquiry  is  a  philanthropi^al  extension  of  thought. 
We  are  here  in  quest  of  a  man,  who  was  animated  with  a 
noble  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  dignity  and  happiness  of  his 
fellow  creatures,  and  engaged  in  the  execution  of  a  plan 
for  the  good  of  all  without  exception.  Why,  from  the  in- 
vestigation, should  those  in  particular  be  excluded,  who 
ventured  their  lives  and  shed  their  blood,  for  the  sake  of 
others  ? 

Fabulous  accounts  do  indeed  name  some  heroes  of  this 
kind,  who  are  said  to  have  employed  their  courage  and 
strength  in  delivering  mankind  from  wild  animals  and 
monsters,  and  imparting  to  them  useful  knowledge.  Of 
the  two  most  noted  of  them,  I  shall  say  all  that  is  neces- 
sary, a  little  farther  on.  At  present  I  confine  myself  sole- 
ly to  authentic  history ;  and  even  this,  certainly  presents 
us  with  a  muhitude  of  men  who  have  deserved  well  of  the 
world  for  their  deeds.  It  tells  us  of  those  who  defended 
their  native  country  and  their  allies  against  unjust  attacks, 
aroused  by  the  strength  of  their  minds,  and  sustained,  the 
sinking  courage  of  their  terrified  fellow  citizens  in  times 
of  danger,  generously  and  bravely  ventured  their  lives  for 
the  public  good,  and,  amidst  the  perils  and  cruelties  of 
war,  set  examples  of  philanthropy,  courage  and  forbear- 
ance. Who  will  not  here  immediately  call  to  mind  the 
great  names  of  Mihiades,  Themistocles,  Cimon,  Leonidas, 
Agesilaus,  Epaminondas,  Phocion,  Philopoemen,  among 
the  Greeks ;  and  those  of  Brutus,  Fabricius,  Camillus, 
Marcellus,  jEmillius,  and  the  Scipios,  among  the  Romans  ; 
as  well  as  numerous  other  heroes,  to  whom  their  native 
country  was  indebted  for  its  freedom  and  prosperity  ? 

That  various  objections  may  be  made  to  much  that  was 
said  and  done  by  these  men,  as  well  as  to  many  of  the  dis- 
positions and  feelings  in  which  they  indulged,  many  prin- 
ciples by  which  they  were  governed,  and  many  parts  of 
their  mode  of  thinking  as  a  whole,  I  readily  admit.  It 
cannot  be  denied,  however  painful  the  fact,  that,  on  nu- 
merous occasions,  their  characters  exhibited  traits  of  that 
unfriendly  severity  and  hardness,  so  peculiar  to  all  anti- 


142  NO  PLAN  LIKE  CHRIST*S 

quity.  Who,  however,  that  takes  into  consideration  the 
circumstances  in  whick  they  were  called  upon  to  serve 
their  native  country,  will  not  allow  them  after  all,  to  have 
been  its  greatest  benefactors  ?  During  that  age,  a  general 
mistrust  prevailed,  and  almost  every  nation  was  obliged  to 
be  as  it  were,  constantly  under  arras ;  for  a  peaceful  man  be- 
fore he  was  aware  of  it,  might  be  attacked  by  a  tyrannical 
neighbour  and  deprived  of  all  his  tranquillity,  and  of  course, 
power  was  considered  in  a  great  measure  as  authorizing 
what  was  right,  and  the  strongest  were  permitted  to  take 
possession  of  all  things.  Hence,  no  nation  that  was  des- 
titute of  men  of  such  courage  and  decision,  could  possi- 
bly feel  itself  safe,  or  enjoy  any  degree  of  lasting  pros- 
perity. Those  therefore,  who  rescued  their  respective 
countries  from  those  attacks,  merely,  which  were  un- 
just, and  defended  them  against  wrongs  from  other  na- 
tions, while  they  gave  their  fellow  citizens  instructive  and 
animating  examples  of. industry,  order,  magnanimity,  mod- 
eration, and  manly  self-control,  ought  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  most  distinguished  benefactors  of  the  human 
race ;  for  we  may  safely  say,  that  by  their  example,  ac- 
tivity, and  authority,  they  prevented  the  outbreakings  of  a 
-  thousand  base  and  pernicious  desires,  smothered  a  thou- 
sand disorders  in  the  bud,  formed  a  thousand  youth, 
whose  fiery  spirits  w^ould  have  led  them  on  to  extravagant 
cies,  into  orderly  and  useful  citizens,  and  made  mankind 
to  some  degree  acquainted  with  a  lawful  mode  of  thinking, 
as  well  as  with  a  justice  and  magnanimity,  which  must  have 
been  the  origin  of  innumerable  deeds  of  public  utility. 
Now  if  every  thing  that  is  good  and  useful,  in  whatever  it 
consist,  is  to  be  esteemed  and  praised  as  such,  why  should 
we  not  recognise  with  satisfaction  the  contributions  of  these 
men  to  the  amount  of  good  dispositions  and  actions,  and 
bless  those,  who,  in  this  way,  rendered  themselves  useful 
to  mankind  P 

§  66.  1  need,  however,  scarcely  add  the  remark,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  attention  which  these  men  have  al-. 
ways  attracted,  and  the  high  esteem  in  which  they  deserve 
to  be  held  by  us,  none  of  them  caij  ever  have  thought  of 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  143 

such  an  extensive  and  benevolent  plan  as  that  of  which  we 
are  now  in  pursuit.  They  were  confined  to  their  native 
countries,  and  in  their  spheres,  did  uncommonly  well. 
The  manner  in  which  they  sought  to  do  good,  however, 
rendered  it  necessary  for  them  to  do  as  much  injury  as 
possible  to  other  nations  for  the  security  of  their  own. 
They  were  obliged  to  adopt  rules  of  action,  severe,  and  often 
repulsive  to  their  own  feelings.  The  warlike  character  of 
the  age  necessarily  cherished  m  them  a  spirit  of  mistrust 
towards  all  their  neighbours,  and  prevented  them  from 
forming  philanthropical  plans  for  the  benefit  of  strangers, 
the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  such  persons,  tending  rather 
to  excite  their  ambition  and  lead  them  on  in  more  careful 
endeavors  for  promoting  the  welfare  of  their  own  country- 
men. Living  and  acting  under  such  circumstances  as 
these,  the  formation  of  a  salutary  plan,  which  embraced 
all  nations,  was  an  absolute  impossibility. 


Wise  kings  and  statesmen. 

§  67.  This  is  also  true  of  those  wise  kings. and  states- 
men who  became  the  fathers  of  their  native  country,  and, 
by  attending  faithfully  to  the  performance  of  their  business, 
favoring  the  sciences,  introducing  useful  arts,  and  by  vari- 
ous other  benevolent  means,  advanced  the  happiness  of 
thousands.  In  this  class  of  men,  we  unquestionably  find 
goodness  of  heart  combined  with  wisdom,  and  an  intellect, 
comprehensive  and  penetrating  ; — an  intellect  capable  of 
forming  great  plans  and  executing  them,  and  doing  every 
thing  with  a  silent  and  energetic  moderation,  which  aims  at 
utility,  and  not  at  dazzling  splendor.  The  men  of  this  class, 
therefore,  approximated  very  near  to  that  greatness,  of 
which  we  are  seeking  to  find  an  example,  except  that  they 
performed  upon  a  small  scale,  what  the  founder  of  Christi- 
anity undertook  to  execute  in  his  way,  upon  a  large  one. 
They  sought  to  become  the  benefactors  of  a  small  native 
city  or  country ;  he  intended  to  become  the  benefactor  of 
the  world. 


144 

The  warlike  spirit  of  antiquity  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken,  made  almost  all  the  men  of  the  old  world,  who 
felt  strong  enough,  desirous  of  undertaking  something  im- 
portant, and  distinguishing  themselves  by  heroic  deeds. 
It  is  very  easy,  therefore,  to  find  a  great  number  of  con- 
querors and  excellent  commanders  in  ancient  history ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  one  finds  himself  involved  in  a 
kind  of  embarrassment,  if  he  attempts  to  name  men  and 
princes,  who  thought  solely  of  benevolent  plans,  and  en- 
deavored to  advance  the  welfare  and  moral  cultivation  of 
the  multitude  over  which  they  were  placed,  by  procuring 
a  lasting  peace  for  their  nation,  and  introducing  into  it  those 
wise  regulations  which  originate  in  genuine  philanthropy 
"and  goodness  of  heart.  Respecting  many  of  these  benev- 
olent friends  of  mankind,  history  is  almost  entirely  silent, 
as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  ancients,  they  did  nothing  worthy 
of  notice,  that  is,  carried  on  no  bloody  wars,  and  wasted 
no  countries.  Of  the  peaceful  kings,  who  ruled  in  the 
happiest  manner  over  the  Albanian  kingdom  for  more  than 
400  years  before  the  building  of  Rome,  scarcely  the  names 
have  come  down  to  us.  Had  not  Theseus  and  Cyrus 
been  as  great  in  war,  as  they  were  wise  and  good  in  peace, 
we  should  perhaps  have  known  little  of  them  but  their 
names. 

§  68.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  those  great  and  be- 
nevolent men,  whom  we  do  meet  with  in  the  history  of 
antiquity,  always  confined  their  operations  to  the  narrow 
circle  of  their  own  nation  and  country.  By  means  of 
laws  and  religion,  the  wise  and  peaceful  Numa  softened 
the  wildness  of  his  barbarous  Romans,  and  contented  him- 
self with  making  his  own  little  state  as  happy  as  it  was  then 
in  his  power.*  Aristides  by  the  strictest  integrity  perform- 
ed important  services  for  his  native  country,  and  satisfied 
himself  with  procuring  for  it  the  confidence  of  all  Greece, 
and  managing  its  weightiest  affairs  with  unbribed  faithful- 

*  Comp.  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  Antiquitat.  Rom.  1.  II.  c.  76. 
p.  400  seqq.  Reisk.  ed. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANClEl^TS.  145 

ncss  and  forbearance.*  Timoleon  threw  away  his  arms, 
as  soon  as  his  bravery  had  set  Sicily  at  liberty,  and,  with 
incredible  activity  and  goodness  of  heart,  labored  to  re- 
store this  island  to  its  ancient  prosperity  and  repose,  and 
finally  congratulated  himself  with  being  able  to  end  his 
days  as  a  private  citizen  in  the  midst  of  a  people  whom  he 
had  made  free  and  happy.  "  I  thank  God,"  he  used  to 
say,  "  for  resolving  to  perform  the  great  work  of  making 
Sicily  free  and  happy,  under  my  name."t  From  exam- 
ples of  this  kind  we  see,  that,  amidst  the  bustle  of  armies, 
antiquity  had  wise  kings  and  statesmen,  who  sought  their 
honor  in  projecting  salutary  plans,  and  in  the  great  busi- 
ness of  rendering  whole  nations  happy,  by  means  of  a 
mild  and  peaceful  government.  Every  philanthropist 
must  look  upon  such  men  with  admiration  and  reverence, 
and  bless  their  memory.  They  never  claimed  the  hon- 
or, however,  of  comprehending  nations  and  strangers  in 
their  plans  of  benevolence,  and,  therefore,  we  shall  do 
them  no  injustice  in  admitting,  that  they  do  not  evince  that 
extensive  and  universal  benevolence,  by  which,  the  author 
of  Christianity  was  impelled,  when  he  thought  of  salutary 
enterprises  for  the  good  of  the  human  race. 

§  69.  Before  leaving  this  class,  however,  I  must  speak 
of  two  men,  to  whom  fable  imputes  the  formation  of  al- 
most such  a  plan  as  that  which  I  am  endeavoring  to  find, 
and  whose  views  of  benevolence  were  more  comprehen- 
sive than  any  that  have  hitherto  been  met  with  in  the  great 
spirits  of  the  old  world.  I  refer  to  Osiris  and  Hercules,  of 
each  of  whom,  I  shall  say  something,  beginning  with  the 
last,  without  regard  to  the  order  of  time,  which  is  here 
of  no  consequence. 

*  Socrates  in  Plato,  speaks  of  the  benevolent  mode  of  thinking 
peculiar  to  this  excellent  man  as  a  rare  quality,  and  one,  for 
which  distinguished  rewards  are  laid  up  in  another  and  better  world. 
In  Gorgia,  p.  170,  Bip.  ed.  [Tom.  IV.] 

t  Conip.  the  fine  observations  with  which  Plutarch  concludes  his 
biography  of  this  philanthropical  hero  and  statesman,  Chap.  XXXVI. 
p.  233  seqq.  [Reisk.  Vol.  II.]  [Plutarch's  Lives,  &c.  Vol.  I.  p.  422 
seqq.   Tr.] 

13 


.146 

It  is  well  known  that  in  Hercules,  antiquity  honored  a 
man,  who  employed  all  his  time  and  powers  in  the  defence 
and  for  the  good  of  others.  Wherever  he  went,  he  em- 
braced every  opportunity  that  presented,  for  benefitting 
his  fellow  creatures  without  respect  to  any  particular  na- 
tion. The  oppressed,  whoever  they  were,  always  shared 
his  kindness  and  generous  aid.  True,  the  feats  by  which 
he  attached  others  to  himself,  consisted  for  the  most  part 
in  killing  monsters  and  delivering  men  from  the  rava- 
ges and  attacks  of  wild  beasts.  In  the  very  ancient  times, 
however,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  lived,  the  earth  ex- 
hibited only  here  and  there  a  cultivated  place,  and  was  in 
general  a  frightful  wilderness  which  nourished  wild  beasts 
in  abundance.  The  hero,  therefore,  who  had  courage 
enough  to  defend  mankind  against  these  monsters,  or 
against  bloodthirsty  robbers,  and  inhuman  oppressors, 
ought  unquestionably  to  be  considered  as  a  great  benefac- 
tor of  his  race.  The  value  and  importance  of  actions  of 
general  utility,  is  doubtless  to  be  estimated  according  to 
the  circumstances  and  necessities  of  the  age  in  which 
they  are  performed.  An  action,  therefore,  which  would 
now  be  considered  of  a  very  ordinary  kind,  in  the  times 
of  Hercules,  when  the  means  of  extirpating  or  subduing 
wild  beasts,  and  securing  one's  self  against  the  violent  at- 
tacks of  robbers,  were  few,  would  have  been  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  greatest  magnitude.  Now,  if  we  consider 
the  noble-minded  willingness,  with  which  Hercules  always 
hastened  away  for  the  protection  of  oppressed  humanity, 
we  shall  find  it  impossible  to  refrain  from  admiring  the 
inclination  that  he  evinced  for  doing  good  upon  a  compre- 
hensive and  extensive  scale,  exceeding  as  it  does,  every 
thing  of  the  kind  that  we  have  hitherto  been  able  to  dis- 
cover from  history  in  any  great  man  of  antiquity.* 


*  Hercules  nihil  sibi  vicit :  orbem  terrarum  transiuit  non  concupis- 
cendo,  sed  vindicando.  Quid  vinceret  malorum  hostis,  bonoruni 
vindex,  terrarum  marisque  pacator?  Seneca,  De  Benef.  1.  I.  c.  13, 
and  in  particular,  compare  the  important  passage,  found  in  Dionysi- 
us,  Antiq.  Rom.  1.  I.  c.  41.  [Hercules  ira  Junonis  ad  delenda  mon- 
stra  invitus  fere  impellitur;  the  author's  Opusc.  Ac.  I.  345.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  147 

It  is  certain,  however,  from  the  fable  itself,  that  Hercu- 
les never  extended  his  views  to  all.  Indeed,  the  kind  of 
benevolent  actions  which  he  performed,  rendered  this  im- 
possible. Besides,  the  representation  that  has  been  given 
of  this  benefactor  of  the  human  race,  is  unquestionably 
nothing  more  than  a  picture  made  up  of  several  he- 
roes of  this  class,  and  very  considerably  embellished.  In 
those  times  men  were  every  where  needed,  and  almost 
every  where  to  be  found,  who,  by  the  strength  of  their 
arm,  could  afford  protection  from  ravenous  beasts  of  prey. 
In  the  course  of  time,  however,  the  benevolent  exploits  of 
several  of  these  heroes  were  collected  together,  and  attri- 
buted to  one,  who  was  extolled  as  a  philanthropist.  In 
this  way  a  fable  was  made,  with  which  very  naturally  ori- 
ginated an  instance  of  that  enlargement  of  thought  in  re- 
gard to  benevolent  views,  which  no  one  individual  of  those, 
who,  in  this  rough  and  barbarous  age,  contributed  by  their 
merits,  to  the  formation  of  this  picture,  ever  actually  pos- 
sessed or  could  possess.*  The  Sophists  labored  the  most 
to  render  the  character  of  this  hero  uncommonly  great,  for 
they  delighted  in  making  choice  of  his  praise  as  the  theme 
of  their  declamations,  which  were  delivered  with  all  the 
wit  and  eloquence  of  which  they  were  masters.  What 
wonder  then  that  the  most  beautiful  features  of  magnani- 
mity, disinterestedness,  and  philanthropy,  were  gradually 
blended  together  in  the  same  picture,  when  no  one  ever 
intended  to  produce  it,  without  adding  some  new  strokes 
of  embellishment  !f 

The  fable  respecting  Osiris  and  his  inarch  through  the 
world,  appears  to  have  originated  in  a  manner  somewhat 
different.     It   unquestionably  exhibits   the  germ  of  the 

*  Consult  a  passage  in  Cicero  upon  this  subject,  De  Natura  Deo- 
rum,  B.  III.  Chap.  16. 

+  A  fine  specimen  of  such  school  declamations  respecting  the 
praise  due  to  Hercules,  is  to  be  found  in  Maximus  of  Tyre,  Disser- 
tations 5th  and  22d,  [two  short  passages.  In  Reiske,  the  21st  and 
38th,  Tom.  I.  409,  II.  235.]  If  any  one,  however,  is  anxious  to  know 
what  the  ancient  grammarians  made  out  of  the  mythologies  respect- 
ing Hercules,  he  may  consult  what  Heraclides  has  said  upon  the 
subject,  Allegor.  Homer.,  c.  33,  34. 


148 

greatest  and  most  salutary  plan  of  which  we  find  any 
traces  before  the  times  of  the  founder  of  Christianity.  The 
account  is  given  by  Diodorus  of  Sicily."'^  From  it  we  learn, 
that  Osiris  king  of  Egypt,  after  having  by  means  of  reli- 
gion and  agriculture,  of  which  he  and  his  queen  were  the 
inventors,  in  connexion  with  laws  and  the  advancement  of 
the  sciences,  softened  and  polished  the  manners  of  his 
own  countrymen,  formed  the  great  design  of  delivering 
the  world  itself  from  the  barbarity  in  which  it  was  sunk, 
by  travelling  through  it,  and  teaching  its  nations  agricuhure 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  vine.  His  intention  in  this  re- 
spect is  said  to  have  originated  in  benevolence  and  a  de- 
sire of  doing  something  to  render  himself  famous.  He 
collected  together  an  army,  not  for  the  purpose  of  shed- 
ding blood,  but  of  filling  the  world  with  pleasure  and  joy, 
and,  by  the  enchanting  effects  of  music  and  dancing,  mak- 
ing its  barbarous  inhabitants  willing  to  receive  the  instruc- 
tions which  he  wished  to  impart.  Accordingly,  he  con- 
fided his  kingdom  to  safe  hands  during  his  absence,  and 
commenced  his  journey.  He  passed  through  Ethiopia, 
Arabia,  India,  and  the  whole  of  Asia,  and  then  crossed 
over  the  Hellespont  into  Europe,  and  passed  through 
Thrace,  all  Greece,  and  the  other  countries  that  contained 
human  beings.  Wherever  he  went,  he  introduced  agri- 
culture, and  on  departing,  left,  behind  him  memorials  of 
his  philanthropical  disposition  and  feeling,  and  such  of 
his  army  as  were  found  prepared  to  remain  with  his  new 
pupils,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  and  farther  extending 
the  knowledge  with  which  they  had  been  intrusted.  He 
never  made  use  of  power,  except  when  men  were  barba- 
rous enough  to  attack  and  oppose  him  in  the  first  place. 
He  finally  returned  to  his  native  country,  accompanied 
with  the  thanks  and  well  wishes  of  mankind,  who  ever 
after  felt  themselves  bound  to  honor  him  as  a  benevolent 
deity. 

I  need  not  call  the  attention  of  any  person  to  the  great- 
ness of  this  plan.     Considering  the  circumstances  under 

*  In  his  Biblioth.  Hist.,  B.  I.  Chap.  17—26,  p.  20  seqq.,  Wesse- 
ling's  ed. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  140 

which  Osiris  is  said  to  have  executed  it,  a  greater  and 
more  salutary  one  for  mankind  could  scarcely  have  been 
conceived.  If  the  man  ever  lived  who  undertook  any 
thing  of  the  kind,  he  was  unquestionably  the  greatest, 
most  philanthropical  genius  of  antiquity;  for  without  pre- 
decessor or  example,  he  perfected  a  work  which  no  other 
great  man  of  antiquity,  so  far  as  we  know,  ever  thought  of 
or  dared  to  imitate.  There  are  several  circumstances, 
however,  which  render  it  certain,  that  this  whole  ac- 
count is  one  of  those  sacred  traditions  of  the  Egyptians, 
which  are  altogether  destitute  of  historical  credibility.  In- 
deed, the  simple  fact,  that  a  plan  of  such  universal  benev- 
olence and  extent  is  attributed  to  a  king,  who,  with  his 
people,  had  hardly  escaped  from  a  state  of  gross  bar- 
barity, is  amply  sufficient  to  bring  it  into  complete  sus- 
picion. That  greatness  of  mind  and  sympathizing  good- 
ness of  heart,  which  look  carefully  to  the  welfare  of 
others,  and  make  the  highest  honor  to  consist  in  doing 
good  to  the  whole  human  family,  do  not  immediately 
succeed  to  a  state  of  barbarity.  Between  the  low  de- 
gree of  cukivation  in  which  Osiris  must  have  found  him- 
self and  his  people,  and  this  height,  there  are  numerous 
grades  which  cannot  be  overleaped.  The  men  belong- 
ing to  those  times,  of  which  we  have  credible  accounts, 
and  who  were  able  to  advance  but  a  few  degrees  in  ac- 
tive philanthropy  and  universal  benevolence,  were  slow  iu 
their  progress.  History  also  informs  us,  and  we  have  of- 
ten had  occasion  to  observe,  that  this  high  degree  has 
been  attained  only  by  a  few  choice  spirits,  after  a  long 
course  of  great,  national  improvements. 

Notwithstanding,  it  is  worthy  of  particular  remark, 
that  this  fable  does  exhibit  at  least  the  traces  of  a  plan 
which  embraced  the  whole  human  family,  and  contained 
that  universality  which  we  have  hitherto  searched  for 
in  vain  among  all  the  benevolent  plans  of  antiquity.  By 
attending  closely,  however,  to  the  changes  of  the  Egyptian 
mythology,  which  was  in  other  respects  very  peculiar,  we 
shall,  as  I  think,  be  able  to  discover  the  origin  of  this  fa- 
ble, without  supposing  even  that  spirit  of  universal  benev- 
13* 


150  NO  PLAN  LIKE  CHRlST^S 

olence  which  it  displays,  to  have  been  common  to  the  old 
world.  It  is  not  improbable  that  there  was  once  such  a 
man  as  Osiris,  perhaps  an  old  king,  who  deserved  well  of 
his  people.  After  his  death,  his  people,  on  account  of  his 
merits,  doubtless  placed  him  in  the  heavens,  and  began  to 
worship  him  as  a  deity.  This  is  indeed  credible,  from 
the  fact,  that  the  ancient  nations  were  very  much  accus- 
tomed to  express  the  gratitude  which  they  felt  towards 
their  benefactors,  by  rendering  them  such  honor.*  It  is 
well  known,  however,  that  the  name  of  Osiris,  by  the 
multiplication  of  sacred  traditions,  gradually  became  am- 
biguous.f  The  result  was,  that  people  soon  began  to 
consider  it  as  the  name  of  a  higher  deity,  such,  for  in- 
stance as  the  sun,f  whose  benevolence  was  universal,  and 
embraced  mankind  at  large.  Now,  in  this  case,  the  sig- 
nification of  the  name  being  changed,  the  old  historical 
truth  respecting  a  former  king  in  Egypt,  was  no  longer 
applicable  to  it.  The  account  itself,  therefore,  was  also 
changed,  so  as  to  be  accommodated  to  the  new  idea  which 
had  been  attached  to  the  name  of  Osiris,  by  which,  as 
people  were  anxious  to  make  him  in  reality  great  and  di- 
vine in  his  actions,  they  appropriated  to  him  the  exalted 
project  which  has  already  been  described.  Besides,  it 
was  very  agreeable  to  Egyptian  pride  to  make  an  Egyp- 

*  Plutarch  indeed,  De  Isid.  et  Osir.,  p.  419  seqq.,  Reisk.  ed.  [Vol. 
VII.,]  objects  to  this  opinion.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  he  was 
led  very  violently  to  oppose  an  explanation,  which  probably  had 
many  advocates  even  in  antiquity,  by  his  great  aversion  to  the  well 
known  mythological  system  of  Evemerus.  The  arguments  which 
he  uses  for  the  purpose,  are  evidently  too  weak,  and  too  intimate- 
ly connected  with  his  opinion  respecting  the  nature  of  demons, 
— an  opinion  which  led  this  otherwise  excellent  writer  to  make  many 
superstitious  assertions. 

t  Comp.  Heeren,  Ideen  tlber  die  Politik,  den  Verkehr  und  den 
Handel  der  vornehrasten  Vdlker  der  alten  Welt,  Th.  I.  S.  434  ff. ; 
[fourth  ed.,  Th.  II.  Abth.  2,  S.  124,  Hist.  Schriften,  14r  Theil.] 

X  Osiris  was  unquestionably  represented  under  a  symbol  of  the 
sun,  which  induced  many  of  the  ancients  to  consider  him  as  the 
sun.  This  cannot  be  denied  by  Plutarch  himself,  notwithstanding 
his  opposition  to  this  interpretation.  Vid.  the  treatise  already  quoted, 
p.  465.  The  arguments  in  favor  of  this  position,  have  been  collected 
together  by  Jablonsky  in  his  Panth.  Aegypt.,  Part  I.  p.  125  seqq. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  151 

tian  king  the  means  of  rescuing  all  other  nations  from  a 
state  of  barbarity ;  and  to  whom  was  it  more  suitable  that 
this  act  of  great  and  universal  benevolence  should  be  im- 
puted than  to  the  good  deity  whom  they  worshipped  un- 
der the  name  of  Osiris  ?  The  whole  account,  therefore, 
was  probably  nothing  more  than  a  fiction  intended  to  con- 
vey the  idea  that  all  wisdom  and  improvement  had  their 
origin  in  Egypt,  and  were  thence  extended  over  the  world  j 
or  perhaps  a  sensible  representation  of  the  truth,  that  ag- 
riculture and  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  every  where  mark 
the  commencement  o^  genuine  civilization,  and  that  the 
muse  and  the  pleasures  of  life  are  to  be  found  in  their 
train. 

This  fable,  however,  was  unquestionably  not  invented 
until  after  the  Egyptian  priests  had  received  much  infor- 
mation from  the  Greeks,  and  probably  begun  to  feel 
ashamed  of  such  gods  as  had  confined  all  their  acts  of  be- 
nevolence entirely  to  their  own  country.  At  least,  Diodorus 
of  Sicily  is  the  oldest  writer  that  gives  an  account  of  this 
tradition.*  However  this  may  be,  from  this  fable  it  is 
evident,  that  the  ancients  considered  a  plan  of  such  com- 
pass and  benevolence  as  a  thing  very  uncommon  and  ex- 
traordinary. The  very  fact,  that  the  Egyptians  represent- 
ed their  supreme  god   as  thinking  and  acting  in  such  a 


*  In  this  place,  a  learned  note  upon  Cudworth  by  Mosheim,  may 
be  consulted,  Kap.  IV.  §  13.  S.  246.  u.  47,  Jen.  ed.  Under  Osiris, 
Origen  understands  water,  contra  Celsum,  1.  V.  p.  257,  Spencer's 
ed.  [De  la  Rue,  Tom.  I.  607.]  Admit  him  to  be  correct,  a  point 
which  this  is  not  the  place  to  determine,  the  remarks  made  in  the 
first  place  would  be  applicable  even  to  this  explanation  ;  and  it  would 
be  easy  to  point  out  causes,  by  means  of  which  this  fable  obtained 
such  a  benevolent  extension.  The  same  is  also  true,  if  Osiris  be  ta- 
ken in  general  for  the  moistening  and  fructifying  principle  in  na- 
ture ; — an  explanation  which  Plutarch  brings  forward  in  the  work 
just  quoted,  p.  436  seqq.,  as  the  opinion  of  the  wisest  of  the  Egyptian 
priests,  and  which  he  takes  much  pains  to  dress  up  with  embellish- 
ments. [Creuzer's  explanation  of  the  fables  respecting  Hercules 
and  Osiris,  gives  a  result  which,  as  is  easy  to  perceive,  lends  equal 
support  to  the  author's  assertion.  Consult  in  particular,  respecting 
Hercules,  Symbolik  und  Mythologie  der  alten  Volker,  II.  205.  248 
ff.  254  ff.  III.  309  ff.  IV.  244,  2d  ed.  ;  respecting  Osiris,  I.  257, 
267  ff.] 


152 

manner,  and  made  him  executor  of  such  a  plan,  in  order 
to  procure  for  him  claims  to  the  worship  and  adoration  of 
the  whole  human  race,  is  of  itself  sufficient  proof  that  dis- 
positions, feelings,  and  plans  of  this  kind,  were  not  attri- 
buted to  common  men. 

We  are  now,  therefore,  just  where  we  were,  when  we 
entered  upon  the  examination  of  the  philanthropical 
kings  and  statesmen  of  antiquity.  As  yet,  we  have  found 
no  instance  of  a  man  who  formed  a  plan  of  very  great 
benevolence  and  extent,  embracing  the  whole  human 
family ;  at  least,  one  that  in  respect  to  its  universality,  we 
may  venture  to  compare  with  the  plan  by  which  the  foun- 
der of  Christianity  has  unquestionably  distinguished  him- 
self. Let  us  pass  on  therefore  to  that  class  of  the  bene- 
factors of  mankind,  to  be  found  in  antiquity,  which  were 
every  where  the  most  celebrated ;  namely,  to  that  of 
philosophers  and  learned  men. 


Philosophers  and  learned  men. 

§  70.  There  are  two  ways  in  which  we  can  ascertain  the 
characters  of  the  plans  which  the  philosophers  or  sages  of 
antiquity  had  before  them,  for  the  general  good.  We  may 
either  look  at  the  influence  which  they  uniformly  exerted, 
in  regard  to  the  illumination,  improvement,  and  prosperity 
of  our  race,  or  we  may  contemplate  the  systems  of  instruc- 
tion which  they  formed  for  the  promotion  of  religion,  vir- 
tue, and  happiness.  In  the  first  way,  we  can  ascertain 
what  they  actually  did  ;  in  the  second,  what,  by  virtue  of 
their  general  principles,  they  might  have  done,  had  they 
rigidly  adhered  to  them. 

To  speak  accurately  and  judge  impartially,  we  must 
say,  that  all  the  philosophers  of  antiquity  with  which  we 
are  acquainted,  in  reality  deserving  of  the  name,  were  ei- 
ther Greeks  or  Romans.  The  sages  of  other  nations, 
Confucius  alone  excepted,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  far- 
ther on,  were  always  priests  at  the  same  time,  or  perhaps 
the  founders  of  new  religions,  and  hence,  the  guardians 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  153 

also  of  superstition.  Instead  of  engaging  in  close  investi- 
gations, respecting  virtue  and  happiness,  and  the  nature  of 
things,  as  they  might  have  done,  they  employed  them- 
selves in  astrology,  divination,  and  such  other  arts,  as,  in 
an  ignorant  nation,  would  readily  procure  for  them  influ- 
ence and  wealth.  When,  therefore,  we  have  shown  what 
the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers  contributed  towards 
enlightening  and  improving  mankind,  before  the  founder 
of  Christianity,  we  shall  know  what  benevolent  plans  have 
been  formed  and  executed  by  the  sages  of  antiquity. 

§71.  In  order  to  ascertain  what  philosophy  effected 
among  the  Greeks,  certain  periods  of  time  tnust  be  dis- 
tinguished, in  which  its  influence  was  very  different. 
Among  the  philosophers  who  lived  before  Socrates,  Py- 
thagoras alone  excepted,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  in  partic- 
ular a  little  farther  on,  we  cannot  expect  to  find  any  very 
great  or  benevolent  plan  for  the  good  of  the  world.  Phi- 
losophy, which  was  then  in  its  infancy,  had  never  exerted 
much  influence  of  a  favourable  character  upon  the  pub- 
lic. The  seven  wise  men  of  Greece,  so  called,  were  not 
so  much  philosophers,  as  learned  and  practised  statesmen ; 
and  they  were  principally  indebted  for  their  celebrity  to 
the  laws  which  they  gave  to  single  states  in  Greece,  to 
their  experience  in  public  affairs,  and  to  the  various  ex- 
cellent maxims  which  they  used  from  time  to  time  to  lay 
down,*  and  which,  perhaps,  they  sought  to  render  agree- 
able to  their  contemporaries  by  the  enchantments  of  poe- 
try.f  They  do  not,  therefore,  properly  belong  to  this  place, 

*  Respecting  this  point,  consult  Plato  in  Protag.,  p.  153,  154,  Bip. 
ed.  [Tom.  III.] 

t  So  judged  Dicearchus  respecting  these  men,  and,  as  it  appears, 
very  correctly.  Vid.  Diogenes  Laertius,  B.  I.  Div.  40,  and  next  to 
him,  Cicero  de  Amicitia,  cap.  2.  "Thales,"  says  Plutarch,  "seems 
to  have  been  the  only  philosopher  of  that  age,  who  was  elevated 
above  the  affairs  of  common  life  by  speculation.  The  other  wise  men 
were  indebted  for  this  name  to  their  skill  in  political  matters.  In  So- 
lon, p.  320  [Vol.  I.,]  where,  in  general,  more  is  to  be  found  appropri- 
ate to  this  place.  [Plut.  Lives,  &c.,  Vol.  I.  p.  134,  where,  howev- 
er, the  passage  is  differently  rendered.  The  Greek  runs  thus  :  Kal 
oAtog  soixtv  ij  ©a?.£(i}  uovov  oo(pia  tots  nsQairtQoi  rtjg  j(Qaiag  i^ixio-' 
^at  T^i  ■&e(aQia  joig  d*ak?,oig  arco  rfjg  no?.irtxi}g  a^trijg  rovro^ia  Ti;s 
Oo<piag  i^nij^U'  Tr.J 


154  NO  PLAN 

but  rather  to  the  class  of  legislators  and  statesmen,  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken.  All  the  other  wise  men 
who  lived  before  Socrates,  employed  themselves  in  things 
which  not  only  had  little  or  no  reference  to  the  improve- 
ment and  happiness  of  mankind  in  that  age,  but  in  things 
which  were  often  positively  injurious  in  this  respect.  A 
great  part  of  them  gave  themselves  up  to  dark  and  labo- 
rious investigations,  or  rather  to  dreaming  and  making  fic- 
tions, about  the  universe,  its  origin,  and  the  matter  of  which 
it  must  have  been  composed  ;  about  the  heavenly  bodies, 
their  nature  and  motions,  and  the  laws  that  regulate  the 
changes  of  the  physical  world,  while  they  entirely  neglect- 
ed what  immediately  concerned  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind and  was  especially  worthy  of  the  attention  of  every 
genuine  thinker.*  The  other  class  of  wise  men  look- 
ed more  to  their  own  interests,  and  loved  a  productive  wis- 
dom. Hence,  they  cultivated  that  ostentatious  eloquence, 
which  is  ready  to  pour  itself  forth  in  extemporaneous  effu- 
sions upon  every  subject,  and,  consisting  of  verbose  chatter- 
ing rather  than  connected  sense,  is  calculated  to  astonish  the 
multitude,  while,  by  selling  trash  respecting  the  art  of  civil 
government,  carrying  on  war,  making  laws,  &c.,  and  by  an 
appearance  of  acuteness,  they  deprived  the  ignorant  youth 
of  their  precious  money,  and  defrauded  the  people  of 
Greece.  These  men  are  so  well  known  under  the  name 
of  Sophists,  or  rather  so  infamous,  that  J  need  not  give 
any  farther  description  of  them.  The  peaceful  dreamers  of 
the  first  class,  in  giving  themselves  up  to  vain  speculations, 
at  least  did  no  injury  to  others,  and  many  of  them,  con- 
sidered in  another  point  of  view,  were  really  useful  citi- 
zens. The  Sophists,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  only 
superfluous  to  the  nation,  but  dangerous,  in  various  re- 
spects.   The  complaints  which  Plato  makes  about  them  to 

*  To  this  place,  belongs  a  witty  and  very  animated  description  of 
this  idle  and  fruitless  wisdom,  given  by  Socrates,  Plato  in  Theaet., 
c.  24,  25,  Fischer's  ed.  [Bip.  II.  70  seq.,]  and  a  fragment  of  Euri- 
pides, which  is  illustrated  by  Valkenaer,  Diatrib.  in  Euripidis  per- 
ditor  dramat.  reliquias,  p.  26  seq.  Comp.  also  Xenophon,  Mem. 
Socr.,  1.  I.  c,  1.  §  11  seq. 


DEVISED  Br  THE  ANCIENTS.  155 

Socrates,  in  almost  every  dialogue,  are  indeed  said  to  be 
somewhat  exaggerated  and  unjust.  It  is  certain,  howev- 
er, that  their  instruction  was  the  means  of  filling  the  Gre- 
cian youth  with  a  proud  conceit,  a  pernicious  selfishness, 
and  habituating  them  to  a  certain  want  of  thought,  and  the 
fact  serves  to  explain  the  origin  of  numerous  errors  which 
existed  even  in  the  administration  of  political  affairs,  and 
greatly  hindered  the  advancement  of  that  genuine,  serious 
and  severe  wisdom,  which  actually  enlightens  and  im- 
proves. Besides,  it  can  be  shown  that  they  inculcated 
many  principles,  which,  of  necessity,  brought  religion  and 
virtue  altogether  into  suspicion  ;  and  that  they  sought  to 
recommend  vice  by  the  most  specious  delusions  of  elo- 
quence, and  all  the  subdeties  of  a  puzzling  system  of  dia- 
lectics. To  their  pernicious  instruction  is  also  to  be  as- 
cribed a  great  part  of  those  extravagant  immoralities, 
which  sprung  up  so  rapidly  and  unexpectedly,  in  the 
most  flourishing  states  of  Greece,  and  which  neither  So- 
crates, nor  his  pupils,  were  able  to  limit  or  restrain.  By 
this  time,  it  is  easy  for  us  to  draw  the  conclusion,  that  it  is 
needless  to  look  for  any  very  comprehensive  plan  of  be- 
nevolence among  the  philosophers  before  Socrates.  The 
influence  which  their  knowledge  and  opinions  exerted  up- 
on society,  will  not  allow  us  to  think  of  finding  any  among 
them  who  were  capable  of  forming  such  purposes  as  those 
of  which  we  are  in  pursuit. 

§  72.  I  have  already  admitted  that  Pythagoras  ought  to 
be  excepted  from  the  above  general  remarks.  It  is  cer- 
tain, that,  agreeably  to  the  taste  of  his  contemporaries,  he 
also  gave  himself  up  to  dreams  respecting  the  above  nam- 
ed subjects.  Indeed,  his  fiery,  vivacious,  and  enthusias- 
tic spirit,  must  have  greatly  inclined  him  to  such  a  course. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  also  certain,  that  of  all 
the  philosophers  before  the  time  of  Socrates,  he  paid  the 
most  attention  to  real  happiness  and  moral  improvement, 
and,  as  far  as  his  sphere  extended,  he  unquestionably  la- 
bored very  actively  in  their  behalf. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  the  history  and  opinions  qf 
this  extraordinary  man,  are  involved  in  such  doubt  arid 


156 

uncertainty.  Owing  to  the  great  want  of  contemporary 
writers  and  of  credible  accounts,  as  well  as  to  the  shame- 
less fabrications  of  his  senseless  admirers  of  later  ages,  a 
cautious  writer  cannot  assert  any  thing  respecting  him 
without  some  measure  of  fear.  From  what  can  be  gath- 
ered, however,  with  any  degree  of  certainty  from  ancient 
authors  respecting  Pythagoras,  he  seems,  both  in  his  in- 
stitutions, and  the  instructions  connected  with  them,  to 
have  had  a  plan  before  him,  which  did  honor  both  to  his 
intellect  and  heart.  Tiedemann,  who,  with  Meiner,* 
has  unquestionably  thrown  very  great  light  upon  the  life 
and  philosophy  of  Pythagoras,  considers  this  plan  the 
greatest  which  a  philosopher  ever  conceived.  "It  was 
his  intention,"  says  this  scholar,  "  in  the  first  place,  to 
enlighten  his  pupils,  and  exercise  their  understandings  in 
difficult  investigations,  and  then  lay  down  precepts  in  ac- 
cordance with  which,  they  might,  by  means  of  good  laws 
and  religion,  improve  their  fellow  citizens  and  fill  them 
with  an  increasing  reverence  for  virtue,  while  they  were  to 
keep  every  thing  concealed  from  the  uninitiated  in  their 
own  breast,  and  bring  nothing  to  light  any  farther  than  it 
was  carried  into  execution,  and  impart  no  more  to  any 
one,  than  he  comprehended ;  by  which  means,  a  lasting 
influence  was  ultimately  to  be  acquired  for  himself  and 
school,  in  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  human  race.  This 
was  certainly  one  of  the  most  exalted  plans  ever  invented 
by  a  mortal !"  According  to  this  writer's  opinion,  therefore, 
the  society  of  the  Pythagoreans  was  to  consist  of  a  num- 
ber of  wise  men  firmly  united  together,  w^ho  were  to  give 
laws,  and  impart  instruction  to  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple, according  to  their  wants,  and  to  carry  their  discove- 
ries to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  human  knowledge;  at  the 
same  time,  in  diffusing  their  light  among  the  common 
people,  they  were  to  exercise  wisdom  and  caution,  and 
carefully  avoid  making  schisms,  and  getting  up  new  par- 
ties and  sects.     Such  a  society,  he  thinks,  must  have  prov- 

*  In  his  Geschichte  des  Urspruncrs,    Fortgangs  und  Verfalls  der 
Wissenschaften  Griechenland  und  Rom,  Bd.  1.  Buch.  III.  S.  178  ff. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  157 

ed  a  great  blessing  to  mankind,  and  the  spirit  itself  have 
been  peculiar  to  the  Pythagorean  institution.* 

It  is  true  that  such  a  society,  could  it  have  existed,  must 
have  proved  a  very  great  blessing  to  the  human  family. 
The  number  of  sages  formed  according  to  the  Pythagore- 
an plan,  would  have  constituted  as  it  were,  the  soul  of 
mankind,  and  of  course  directed  every  member  of  this 
huge  body,  and  diffused  into  it,  as  much  good  as  was 
compatible  with  the  interests  of  the  whole,  and  as  could  be 
enjoyed.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Pythagoras,  even 
upon  the  supposition  that  he  possessed  such  ingredients 
as  Tiedemann  puts  into  his  hands,  never  thought  of  giving 
his  plan  that  extent,  which  is  the  object  of  our  present  in- 
quiry. In  Graecia  Magna,  the  place  that  he  selected  at  the 
close  of  his  long  travels,  as  the  sphere  of  his  operations,  he 
unquestionably  intended  to  imitate  what  he  had  seen 
among  the  Egyptian  priests,  but  that  he  had  contemplated 
the  formation  of  a  society,  which  should  aim  at  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  human  family,  cannot  be  proved.  He 
must  have  been  short-sighted  indeed,  not  to  have  perceiv- 
ed the  impossibility  of  carrying  through  such  a  plan  mere- 
ly in  one  great  nation.  Whenever  a  secret  society  begins 
to  exert  a  marked  influence  in  public  affairs,  it  excites  the 
jealousy  and  hatred  of  all  the  uninitiated,  who  soon  grow 
suspicious  of  any  thing  of  the  kind,  and  because  they  are 
excluded  from  it,  become  its  opposers.  If,  in  addition  to 
this,  such  a  society  is  also  distinguished  by  certain  man- 
ners and  customs,  in  which  it  very  evidently  lays  claim  to 
higher  perfections  than  ordinary  men  possess,  and  begins 
to  throw  all  others  into  a  humiliating  shade,  however  just 
its  claim,  it  unavoidably  incurs  the  displeasure  of  all  the 
uninitiated,  and  transforms  them  into  irreconcilable  ene- 
mies. Now  this  was  actually  the  case  with  the  Pythago- 
reans, for  there  were  many  things  striking  and  peculiar  in 
their  mode  of  life,+  and  in  the  sequel  this  institution  soon 

*  Comp.  Griechenlands  erste  Philosophen,  S.  328,  and  the  same 
author's  Geist  der  speculativen  Philosophie,  Th.  I.  77 — 79. 

\  Tiedemann,  Geist  der  spec.  Philos.,  Th.  I.  Seite  81  ff. 

14 


158 

learned  the  truth  of  these  remarks.  Pythagoras  himself 
Yived  to  see  its  destruction,  in  those  states,  in  which,  and 
for  whose  government,  education,  and  happiness,  it  had 
been  established,  and  to  experience  the  ill  effects  of  such 
institutions  upon  the  multitude  ;  for,  notwithstanding  their 
great  incapacity  of  governing  themselves,  they  can  with 
justice  require  all  those  who  are  to  govern  them,  to  regu- 
late their  conduct  by  well  known  principles,  and  object  to 
being  forced  slavishly  to  submit  to  authoritative  decisions, 
which  are  calculated  to  excite  suspicion  from  the  very 
fact  of  their  emanating  from  impenetrable  darkness,  and 
must  ever  be  hateful  to  a  people  not  accustomed  to  the 
most  capricious  despotism.  Should  any  one,  therefore, 
admit  that  Pythagoras  actually  gave  his  plan  that  great 
universality,  of  which  we  are  seeking  to  find  an  example, 
for  which,  however,  there  is  not  the  least  historical  evi- 
dence, he  would,  on  account  of  the  impossibility  of  such  a 
project's  being  carried  into  effect,  be  obliged,  at  the  same 
lime,  to  accuse  this  philosopher  of  a  great  want  of  sagaci- 
ty ;  such  a  want,  indeed,  as  could  not  have  existed  in  a 
mind  of  such  penetration  as  that,  evinced  by  this  institu- 
tion, even  upon  the  supposition  that  it  was  confined  to  the 
modest  limits  of  a  single  state,  or  a  few  small  nations.* 

§  73.  But  though  philosophy  before  Socrates,  with  the 
exception  of  what  has  been  said  of  the  Pythagorean  insti- 
tution, exerted  but  little  beneficial  influence  upon  the  hu* 

*  [Pythagoras  has  been  very  unjustly  underrated  in  Adelung's 
Gescbichte  der  Philosophic  flJr  Liebhaber,  I.  261  fF.  This  author 
considers  him  as  an  ambitious  juggler,  fond  of  power,  who,  like  a 
Jesuit-general,  by  means  of  his  secret  order,  aimed  at  obtaining  the 
universal  control  of  Greece.  Barthelemy,  on  the  other  hand,  repre- 
sents him  in  a  very  fanciful  point  of  view,  and  paints  the  Pythagore- 
an union  in  fine  colors,  Voyage  d'  Anacharsis,  Tom.  VI.  chap.  75. 
[Travels  of  Anacharsis  the  younger  in  Greece,  translated  from  the 
French,  8  vols.,  the  last  consisting  of  maps,  plans,  views,  and  coins, 
1793.  Tr.]  Wedekind,  however,  der  Pythagoraische  Orden,  Obscu- 
rantenvereine  u.  s.  w.,  L.  1820,  S,  1 — 57,  especially  S.  40  fF.,  thinks, 
that,  after  all,  Barthelemy  has  not  washed  away  the  complaint  of  de- 
ception respecting  Pythagoras  ;  that  his  order  must  be  considered  as 
having  been  a  kind  of  secret  Jesuitism  ;  and  that  Pythagoras  inspir- 
ed his  pupils  with  his  own  spirit.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  159 

man  race,  yet,  under  the  guidance  of  this  excellent  man, 
she  became  in  a  measure  the  benefactress  of  society  ;  she 
began  to  leave  the  heavens,  where  she  had  hitherto  lived 
in  pursuit  of  empty  dreams,  and,  entering  the  habitations 
of  men,  to  fill  them  with  light  and  happiness.  Tt  would 
be  superfluous  for  me  to  speak  particularly  of  the  merits 
of  this  man  in  this  respect,  or  describe  the  wise,  disinter- 
ested, and  unwearied  activity,  with  which  he  endeavored 
both  to  teach  his  countrymen  and  set  them  a  virtuous  ex- 
ample, while  he  devoted  all  his  powers  to  the  promotion  of 
the  public  good.  Ancient  and  modern  writers  have  done 
him  such  justice  as  the  most  venerable  of  all  the  Grecian 
sages,  and  said  so  much  that  is  good  and  excellent  re- 
specting his  religious  views,  his  virtue  and  active  philan- 
thropy, as  to  render  it  needless  for  me  to  attempt  the  jus- 
tification of  my  opinion  in  detail,  when  I  say,  that  I  con- 
sider him  as  having  accomplished  more  towards  enlighten- 
ing and  improving  mankind  than  all  the  philosophers  of 
Greece.  Not  only  did  he  effect  much  in  his  native  coun- 
try, directly,  but  he  was  also  at  the  head  of  a  school,  from 
which  went  forth  wise  men,  who  from  him  had  learned, 
at  least,  to  approach  nearer  to  human  life  in  their  investi- 
gations, than  had  hitherto  been  done  ; — who  had  begun  to 
contemplate  man  more  closely,  and  select  him,  with  his 
condition,  faults,  facuhies,  and  relations,  as  the  object  of 
their  inquiries  ;  and,  finally,  to  consider  it  as  the  business  of 
philosophy,  if  she  would  be  of  any  real  utility,  to  employ 
herself  chiefly  in  those  important  matters  that  relate  to 
morality  and  happiness. 

Even  this  excellent  man,  however,  influenced  as  he 
ever  was  by  an  unwearied  zeal  in  doing  good,  and  deter- 
red neither  by  a  weight  of  poverty  nor  the  derision  of 
the  ignorant,  by  the  hatred  of  his  nation  nor  the  poi- 
soned chalice,  from  laboring  with  all  his  powers  for  the 
good  of  his  fellow  citizens ; — even  this  man,  notwith- 
standing the  extraordinary  talents  with  which  he  was 
gifted,  and  the  warmth  of  his  heart  in  the  cause  of  hu- 
man happiness,  confined  his  benevolent  views  entirely  to 
the  narrow  limits  of  his  own  native  country.     His  plan, 


160 

agreeably  to  his  own  confessions,  was,  to  mortify  the  false 
wisdom  which  had  led  so  many  of  the  Sophists  astray, 
puffed  up  the  youth  of  his  native  city,  and  proved  preju- 
dicial to  the  state  itself,  and  make  it  the  object  of  ridicule 
and  public  contempt  ;*  while,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
showed  the  Athenians,  both  by  precept  and  example,  that 
true  wisdom  enlightens  the  understanding  with  clear  no- 
tions, warms  the  heart  in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  disin- 
terested philanthropy,  and  diffuses  tranquillity  and  joy 
throughout  the  soul.  His  zeal  in  promoting  the  cause  of 
wisdom,  and  procuring  followers  and  friends  for  her, 
among  his  countrymen,  amounting  almost  to  enthusiasm, 
produced  in  him  a  firm  conviction,  that  he  had  been  des- 
tined by  the  Deity  himself,  to  be  the  teacher  of  the 
Athenians,  and  hence,  however  opposed,  was  called  up- 
on to  labor  and  suffer  with  unshrinking  boldness  in  behalf 
of  virtue  and  truth,  and,  in  his  excellent  language,  to 
obey  God  rather  than  the  judges,  whose  chief  anxiety 
was  to  prohibit  his  instructions.!  How  unweariedly  he 
acted,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  under  the  influence  of 
this  conviction,  and  how  many  obstacles  he  was  enabled 
to  overcome  by  his  extraordinary  courage  and  incredible 
perseverance,  we  are  informed  in  the  history  of  his  life. 
Possessing,  therefore,  as  Socrates  appears  to  have  done, 
those  qualities  of  intellect  and  heart,  which  are  indispen- 
sable to  the  formation  of  a  philanthropical  plan  of  univer- 
sal extent,  in  him,  if  in  any  man  of  antiquity,  we  should 
expect  to  meet  with  such  a  plan ;  and  yet,  not  even  So- 

*  [Comp.  the  author's  excellent  representation  of  the  ironical  me- 
thod of  teaching,  of  which  Socrates  availed  himself  even  in  opposing 
the  Sophists,  in  his  treatise,  De  rati  one  docendi  Socratica,  in  the 
Opusc.  Academ.,  I.  309—390.] 

t  Examine  the  excellent  apology,  which  Plato  wrote  for  this  man, 
his  teacher,  which  contains  the  best  explanation  of  Socrates'  entire 
mode  of  thinking,  and  his  plan,  to  which  he  always  faithfully  adher- 
ed. His  fine  expression,  that  he  must  obey  God  rather  than  his 
judges,  is  to  be  found  in  the  17th  chap,  of  this  defence  [Bip.  I.  69.] 
Whose  mind,  on  its  being  mentioned,  does  not  immediately  revert 
to  the  similar  and  equally  noble  declaration  of  Christ's  apostles  ? — 
Acts  4:  19. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS. 


161 


crates  ever  thought  of  any  thing  of  the  kind.  On  the  oth- 
er hand,  he  was  satisfied  with  rendering  himself  useful  as 
far  as  in  his  power  to  his  own  native  country  and  to  the 
strangers  that  resorted  to  Athens  for  the  purpose  of  hear- 
ing him.  He,  therefore,  whom  many  writers  have  pro- 
nounced the  greatest  of  men,^  was  far  inferior  to  the 
founder  of  Christianity ;  for  the  latter  was  not  only  to 
his  native  country  what  Socrates  sought  to  be  to  his 
Athens,  but  he  also  devised  a  plan,  by  means  of  which 
he  taught  a  much  purer  wisdom  than  Socrates,  and  in- 
tended to  make  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  acquainted 
with  virtue  of  a  far  more  active  character  than  that  which 
he  recommended. f 

§  74.  The  pupils  of  Socrates  separated  in  a  short 
time,  according  to  history,  into  numerous  parties,  which 
differed  from  each  other  exceedingly,  in  their  general 
principles ;  some  of  them  retaining  more  of  their  mas- 
ter's opinions,  and  other's  less.  But  a  few  of  Socrates' 
friends  remained  faithful  to  the  natural  and  useful  mode 
of  philosophizing,  by  which  he  had  acquired  so  much 
merit,  and  among  these  Xenophon  was  the  most  distin- 
guished.    The  rest  either  gave  a  new  import  to  his  prin- 

*  [As  Schlosser,  for  instance,  who  in  his  Kleine  Schriften,  I.  55, 
has  pronounced  Socrates  the  greatest  of  men,  and  next  to  Christ 
himself,  or  Riem,  who,  in  the  work  entitled,  Christus  u.  die  Ver- 
nunft,  c.  6.  S.  92—104,  has  placed  Socrates  still  higher.] 

t  Comp.  Zimmermann's  treatise,  De  praestantia  religionis  Chris- 
tianae,  collata  cum  philosophia  Socratis,  in  Schellhorn,  Amoenitat. 
litterar.,  Tom.  XI.  p.  93  seqq. ;  [also  in  Zimmermann,  Opuscul. 
Theolog.  etc.,  Tom.  I.  549— 003,  Tigur.  1751.  With  respect  to  So- 
crates, is  also  to  be  compared,  Luzac,  Oratio  de  Socrate  cive,  L.  B. 
1796;  Krummacher,  Ueber  Geist  und  Form  der  Evangelien,  S.  234 
—236;  Wiffger,  Sokrates  als  Mensch,  als  BUrger,  und  als  Philosoph, 
2e  Ausg.,  Neustrel.,  1811.  Engelmann,  Sokrates  und  seine  Zeit, 
Ffth.  1812;  Ferd.  DelbrOck,  Sokrates.  Betrachtungen  und  Unter- 
suchungen,  Koln,  1819  ;  and  particularly  Brandis,  Rheinisches  Mu- 
seum, I.  118  ff;  Hamann's  Schriften,  JI.  I— 50.  Very  partial  and 
unsatisfactory  is  the  assertion  made  by  Tennemann  in  his  Geschich- 
te  der  Philosophie,  VII.  40,  that  the  efforts  of  Socrates  and  Jesus  in 
behalf  of  mankind,  notwithstanding  the  great  resemblance  between 
their  characters,  objects,  and  deaths,  were  so  strikingly  different  in 
their  results,  because  Socrates  sought  to  enlighten  and  ennoble  his 
nation  through  reason,  and  Jesus  through  feeling.} 
14* 


162 

ciples,  and,  notwithstanding  his  declarations  against  the 
mania  of  dogmatical  philosophers  to  do  so,  and  his  efforts, 
while  living,  to  counteract  such  a  tendency,  worked  them 
up  with  admixtures  of  foreign  materials  into  new  systems, 
or  else  extended  their  inquiries  to  a  multitude  of  subjects, 
to  which  he,  not  considering  them  of  sufficient,  general 
utility,  had  never  once  condescended  to  attend,  and  hence, 
turned  back  to  the  very  errors  against  which  he  had  en- 
deavored to  guard  them.  In  so  doing,  they  wandered  in 
many  respects  from  the  only  correct  way  of  observation  and 
experience,  which  Socrates  had  pointed  out  to  them, 
ahd  gave  themselves  up  again  to  the  vain  speculations  for 
which  he  had  evinced  so  little  esteem.  Thus  originated 
the  celebrated  sects  of  the  old  philosophers,  which  suc- 
ceeded Socrates,  and  indeed  came  forth  from  his  school, 
€ach  of  which  had  peculiar  excellencies  as  well  as  defects. 

That  party  spirit,  which,  at  this  time,  became  more  and 
more  bustling  and  obstinate,  proved  the  means  of  enlight- 
ening many  dark  regions  of  human  knowledge  and  quick- 
ening reflection,  and,  by  the  numerous  disputes  which  it 
engendered,  occasioned  new  and  deeper  investigations,  is 
perhaps  to  be  admitted.  Its  prevalence  however,  appears, 
as  it  were,  to  have  drawn  philosophy  away  again  from  the 
sphere  of  operations  in  human  society  to  which  Socrates 
had  assigned  it,  and  to  have  shut  it  up  in  the  narrow  lim- 
its of  the  schools.  The  difierent  sects  that  arose  from 
time  to  time,  were  constantly  involved  in  quarrels ;  men 
engaged  in  subtle  investigations  ;  philosophers  began  to 
retire  from  active  life,  in  order  that  they  might  give  them- 
selves up  without  disturbance  to  their  delightful  contem- 
plations; and  the  desire  of  defending  their  own  systems, 
and  confuting  their  opponents,  banished  from  their  minds 
that  zeal,  under  the  influence  of  which,  Socrates  had  la- 
bored to  make  all  his  convictions  of  truth,  useful  in  life, 
and  improving  to  mankind.  r^'""*-^^ 

This  change  unquestionably  deprived  phUbsophy^f 
much  of  that  influence  which  it  might  ^dve  exerted 
in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  happiness,  among  the  Greeks. 
There  is,  therefore,  great  reason  to  believe,  that  we  ought 


DEVISED   BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  163 

not  to  look  for  any  very  extensive  plan  of  benevolence, 
for  the  good  of  the  world  among  the  Grecian  philosophers 
that  succeeded  Socrates,  many  of  whom  had  transformed 
philosophy  into  a  useless  system  of  scholastic  bickerings. 
Very  few  of  them  had  any  direct  influence  in  the  affairs  of 
their  own  country,  or  those  of  other  nations.  Many  of 
them  were  tolerated  at  courts,  merely  as  pleasing  and 
agreeable  chatterers,  too  eagerly  engaged  in  their  own 
gratification  even  to  think  of  laborious  and  extensive  plans. 
Others  had  retired  into  quiet  solitudes,,  and  still  gardens, 
and  would  not  have  any  thing  to  do  with  great  matters  and 
projects.  Others,  again,  had  set  themselves  up  for  se-^ 
vere  judges  and  censors  of  morals  and  manners,  and,  dis- 
satisfied with  society  and  its  constitution,  by  renouncing 
all  the  conveniences  of  life,  and  even  cleanliness  and  pro- 
priety, sought  to  become  patterns  of  a  manly  and  grave 
virtue,  without  reflecting  that  their  conduct  made  virtue 
hateful,  and  rendered  themselves  ridiculous.*  Finally, 
the  most  of  them  contended  in  their  schools  with  other 
parties,  obtained  their  necessary  support  by  declaiming, 
and  were  as  far  as  possible  from  thinking  of  effecting 
great  and  salutary  revolutions. f     Under  such  circumstan- 

*  Such,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  conduct  of  the  Cynics.  Arrian, 
indeed,  makes  his  Epictetus  draw  an  entirely  different  picture  of  the 
true  Cynic,  Diss.  1.  III.  c.  22, — a  picture,  so  attractive,  and  compos- 
ed of  such  exalted  traits,  that  one  cannot  contemplate  it  without  ad- 
miration and  deep  emotion.  It  is  perfectly  manifest,  however,  that 
it  is  merely  an  ideal  conception,  to  which  no  Cynic  ever  attained, 
and  to  which  it  is  hardly  possible  ever  to  attain.  The  same  must  al- 
so be  said  of  what  Lucian  says  in  his  little  work,  entitled  Cynicus, 
in  praise  of  this  sect.  This  is  not  the  place  to  show  what  the  Cynics 
ought  to  have  been.    They  must  be  described  as  they  were. 

t  Seneca,  as  he  informs  his  friend  Lucullus,  in  his  29th  letter,  is 
anxious  that  a  certain  Marcellinus  should  be  improved  by  the  study 
of  philosophy ;  but  he  contrives  to  have  this  witty  genius  make 
many  objections  to  its  utility,  in  support  of  which  he  appeals  chiefly 
to  the  trifling  influence  that  it  exerted  upon  the  philosophers  them- 
selves. "  Scrutabitur,"  says  Seneca,  "  scholas  nostras,  etobiicietphi- 
losophis  congiaria,  arnicas,  gulam.  Ostendit  mihi  alium  in  adulteriOf 
alium  inj!J07^ma,  alium  in  aw/a,  ostenditmihi  lepidumphilosophum  Ar- 
istonera,  qui  in  gestatione  disserebat :  hoc  enim  ad  edendas  operas  tem- 
pusacceperat — Hos  mihi  circulatoreSfqai  philosophiamhonestius  neg- 


164  NO  PLAN  LIKE  CHRISt's 

ces,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  even  the  name  of 
philosopher,  honorable  as  it  once  was,  had  become  con- 
temptible in  many  places  ;  for  to  be  one,  often  required 
nothing  more  than  that  a  man  should  join  some  party,  as- 
sume its  dress,  carry  around  in  his  mouth  the  principles  of 
some  school,  which  in  many  cases  were  not  even  under- 
stood, and,  like  all  ignorant  sectaries,  make  use  of  them 
as  watchwords,  and  defend  them  with  impudence  and 
boldness. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  deny,  that,  notwithstanding  these 
faults,  philosophy  was  always  the  means  of  effecting  much 
good  among  the  Greeks,  as  it  kept  a  valuable  amount  of 
knowledge  in  circulation,  aroused  many  a  heart  to  the 
performance  of  worthy  actions,  and  yielded  consolation  in 

lexissent,  quern  vendunt,  in  faciem  ingeret."  I  think  this  single  pas- 
sage sufficient  to  justify  the  remarks  I  have  made  respecting  the 
great  mass  of  common  philosophers.  If  one  wishes  for  any  thing 
more  in  confirmation  of  them,  he  may  add  the  complaints  of  Epicte- 
tus,  found  in  Arrian,  Diss.  1.  IV.  c.  8.  I  will  not  appeal  to  what 
Lucian  has  said  upon  this  subject  in  many  passages,  particularly  in 
his  Symposium,  and  Reuiuiscent.,  nor  to  Juvenal's  Sat.,  1.  I.  sat.  2. 
V.  1 — 20,  as,  for  well  known  reasons,  the  opinion  of  these  men  might 
be  considered  as  partial.  [It  may  be  well  to  add  a  short  passage,  ta- 
ken from  Cicero,  Quaest.  Tuscul.,  II.  4,  which  exhibits  his  opinion 
of  the  ancient  philosophers,  and  is  worthy  of  particular  attention. — 
*'  Quotusquisque  philosophorum  invenitur,  qui  sit  ita  moratus,  ita 
animo  ac  vita  constitutus,  ut  ratio  postulat  ?  qui  disciplinam  suam 
non  ostentationem  scientiae,  sed  legem  vitae  putet.^  qui  obtemperet 
ipse  sibi  et  decretis  snis  pareat .''  Videre  licet  alios  tanta  levitate  et 
iactatione,  iis  ut  fuerit  non  didicisse  melius  :  alios  pecuniae  cupidos, 
gloriae  nonnullos,  multos  libidinum  servos,  ut  cum  eorum  vita  mi- 
rabiliter  pugnet  oratio,  quod  quidem  mihi  videtur  esse  turpissi- 
mum."  Of  Seneca's  works,  comp.,  De  Constan.  Sap.  c.  3,  Epist. 
ad  Lucil.  20, 108, 116,  and  concerning  the  inconsistency  between  his 
writings  and  character,  Meibomii  Vita  Maecenatis,  c.  22.  p.  132. 133; 
of  Quintilian's  works,  the  Prooera.  Instit.  Or.,  p.  13,  ed.  Spald ;  of 
Plutarch's  works,  what  Diogenes  says  respecting  Plato,  De  Virtute 
Morali,  VII.  776,  what  he  says  respecting  Antisthenes,  Dion  Chry- 
Bost.  Orat.  8,  Reisk.  I.  275,  and  what  Cleanthes  says  respecting  the 
Peripatetics,  Diog.  Laert.,  VII.  Segra.  173.  p.  474  seq.  ed.  Wetst. — 
According  to  Gellius,  N.  A.  XVII.  19,  the  most  of  those  who  ap- 
peared to  philosophize,  were  said  scarcely  to  be  philosophers  in 
words;  '' Philosophos  esse  hujuseemodi  uviv  tov  noumiv,  /ni/Qi 
rov  Xiysiv '/'  as  is  objected  to  the  Academics,  Plut.,  Lacon.  Apo- 
phthegm. VI.  858,  Reisk.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  165 

affliction.*  The  Stoical  school,  in  particular,  may  be 
considered  as  having  been  the  source  of  much  good.f 
It  produced  many  wise  men  of  active  habits,  and  many 
serious  and  venerable  statesmen,  and,  during  the  most  cor- 
rupt times,  kept  up  and  even  extended  a  kind  of  rever- 
ence for  virtue,  of  which  it  ever  spoke  with  great  warmth, 
and  had  an  exalted  opinion.  Among  all  the  noble  men, 
however,  who  were  distinguished  from  the  great  mass  of 
common  philosophers,  and  to  whom  people  were  indebted 
for  the  first  named  effects,  no  one  will  presume  to  look  for 
a  plan  of  such  a  character  as  that  of  which  we  are  now  in 
pursuit.  There  is  not  the  least  proof  to  authorize  one  to 
do  so.  On  the  other  hand,  well  known  experience  teach- 
es us,  that  no  class  of  men  are  usually  less  enterprising 
than  those  who  have  chosen  the  lecture  room  as  the  sphere 
of  their  operations,  and  once  tasted  of  the  silent  joy  of 
quiet  investigations  after  the  truth.  That  the  philosophers 
of  whom  we  here  speak,  were  very  litde  disposed  to  en- 
gage in  important  enterprises,  is  evident  from  the  fact, 
that  not  one  of  these  enlightened  men  ever  dared  to  at- 
tack the  base  religion  of  the  nation,  and  substitute  better 
representations  of  God  in  its  stead,  although  its  absurdity 
must  have  been,  and,  as  we  are  credibly  informed,  was, 
apparent  to  many  of  them.  An  attempt  of  this  kind  hav- 
ing cost  the  bold  Socrates  his  life,  no'  others  had  resolu- 
tion enough  to  offer  such  a  sacrifice  for  the  general  good. 
~ — -ilf 

*  Clemens  of  Alexandria  speaks  upon  this  point  with  much  effect, 
in  the  first  book  of  his  Stromatum,  especially  in  the  first  chapters, 
and  in  a  critical  examination  of  the  value  of  the  heathen  philoso* 
phy,  and  its  use  in  the  old  world,  displays  much  Christian  wisdom 
and  moderation.  It  is  to  be  wished  that  this  man,  who  was  unques- 
tionably the  most  learned  connoisseur  of  the  Greek  philosophy, 
among  all  the  ancient  teachers  of  the  Christian  church,  had  always 
been  made  use  of  as  a  pattern. 

t  It  produced  many  worthy  men,  who  aimed  at  what  Simplicins 
calls  the  philosopher's  post  in  the  state,  in  Enchirid.,  p.  245  ff. 
Schweigh.  ed.  [It  may  be  remarked,  however,  as  Villemain  has 
shown  in  the  second  treatise  of  the  Nouveaux  Melanges  historiquea 
et  litteraires,  Paris,  1827,  that  the  later  Stoics  evidently  received 
Christian  elements  into  their  system,  without  knowing  it,  or  intend- 
ing to  do  so.] 


166 

They  sought  rather  to  apologize  for  the  popular  religion, 
and  make  it  harmonize  with  their  philosophical  systems, 
notwithstanding  the  inconsistencies  to  which  it  might  give 
rise.  To  excuse  their  timidity  in  this  respect,  and  give  it 
the  appearance  of  profound  wisdom,  they  called  to  their 
aid  the  general  principle,  that  it  is  imprudent  and  injuri- 
ous to  let  the  people  see  the  whole  truth  at  once ;  that  it 
is  not  only  necessary  to  spare  sacred  prejudices,  but  in 
particular  circumstances  an  act  of  benevolence  to  deceive 
the  great  mass  of  the  people.  This  was  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  almost  all  the  ancient  philosophical  schools.* 
In  this  way,  they  justified  themselves,  in  taking  the  pre- 
vailing superstition  for  what  it  really  was,  while  they  taught 
and  even  defended  it  in  public,  thereby  avoiding  the  dan- 
ger which  would  have  been  connected  with  an  open  con- 
troversy upon  the  subject.  Now  what  could  truth  ex- 
pect from  men,  who,  with  such  trembling  caution,  brought 
it  their  offerings  only  in  private  ?  How  would  it  have 
been  possible  for  these  timid  men,  who  had  not  courage 
enough  to  speak  with  frankness  what  they  thought,  un- 
less in  their  lecture  rooms,  and  in  the  midst  of  their  con- 
fidential pupils,  to  extend  their  views  to  bold  plans  of 
importance  and  extent? 

*  Respecting  this  principle,  consult  Plato,  De  Republica,  1.  III. 
p.  266  seqq.,  Bip.  ed.  [Tom.  VI.  There  is  a  striking  censure  of  phi- 
losophers, when  they  appropriate  to  themselves  the  principle,  that  it 
is  lawful  to  deceive  i%e  people,  to  be  found  in  Plutarch,  De  Genio 
Socratis,  Vol.  VIII.  291.  "  Many,  in  order  to  pass  for  friends  of  the 
gods  and  for  extraordinary  men,  contrive  to  give  their  treatises  the 
appearance  of  something  divine,  and  render  their  fanciful  conceits 
important  by  means  of  dreams,  apparitions,  and  other  such  like 
things.  It  may  be  necessary,  perhaps,  for  statesmen  to  do  so,  and 
those  who  are  called,  in  their  eiforts  at  usefulness,  to  deal  with  a 
haughty  and  unruly  people,  and,  in  this  way,  make  use  of  supersti- 
tion as  a  leading  string,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  them  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  good.  It  is  not  only  very  unbecoming,  however,  for 
Ehilosophy  to  assume  such  a  dress,  but  altogether  at  variance  with 
er  promise;  for  sHe  has  promised,  to  teach  every  thing  that  is  good 
and  salutary,  by  means  of  reason,  and  to  deduce  the  principles  that 
should  regulate  our  conduct,  from  the  gods ;  and  now,  as  if  she 
despised  reason,  and  treated  demonstration  with  contempt,  the  very 
things  that  had  constituted  her  chief  excellence,  she  gives  herself 
up  to  fortune-telling,  and  runs  after  fanciful  dreams.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  16T 

§  75.  EvemeruSj  indeed,*  seems  to  have  been  ad 
exception  in  this  respect.  His  well  known  work,  con- 
cerning the  heathen  mythology,  appears  to  have  been  ex- 
pressly intended  to  give  a  full  and  naked  representation 
of  the  superstitious  religion  of  the  people.  He  showed 
that  all  the  gods,  not  even  Jupiter  the  supreme,  excepted, 
were  originally  mere  men,  and  had  been  exalted  to  a  seat 
in  the  heavens,  by  gratitude,  esteem,  and  a  disposition  for 
tlie  marvellous.  He  divested  these  gods  of  that  honora- 
ble and  dazzling  splendor,  with  which,  according  to  his 
opinion,  they  had  been  surrounded  by  fickle  tradition  and 
an  inclination  for  the  extraordinary.  By  relating  their 
deeds  without  exaggeration  and  embellishment,  naming 
their  birth-places,  pointing  to  their  graves,  and  stripping 
the  old  mythology  of  all  its  wonders,  he  reduced  them  to 
the  class  of  ordinary  men.  It  is  not  strange,  that  such  a 
bold  attack  upon  the  common  system  procured  for  this 
man  the  surname  of  atheist.f  Evemerus,  however,  was 
at  the  foundation  not  very  serious  in  his  opinions.  From 
the  few  fragments  of  his  important  work  upon  mythology, 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is  very  evident  that  his  only 
object  was,  to  propose  a  new  hypothesis  respecting  the 
different  accounts  extant  concerning  the  gods.  The  more 
learned  portion  of  the  Greeks,  long  before  this,  had  ceas- 
ed to  receive  these  accounts  in  their  literal  acceptation. 
Many  allegorized  them,  and  considered  them  as  envelop- 
ing physical  truths.  Others  built  systems  of  different 
classes  and  orders  of  mighty  demons  upon  them,  and 
sought  to  relieve  themselves  in  regard  to  these  common 
and  often  very  indecent  fables  of  mythology,  by  imputing 
different  degrees  of  perfection  to  each  class  of  their  de- 
mons. Now  Evemerus  proposed  a  third  hypothesis  for 
explaining  these  ancient  fables,  which  consisted  in  suppos- 
ing these  gods  originally  to  have  been  mere  men.     The 

*  Not  Evemerus  alone.  Many  others  treated  mythology  in  the 
same  way.  A  list  of  their  names  is  given  by  Arnobius,  lib.  IV. 
p.  147. 

t  [Comp.  Zimmermann,  Defensio  Everaeri  ab  Atheismo,  in  his 
Opuscula,  II.  1052—1080.] 


168 

object  of  his  investigations,  however,  in  doing  so,  was  not 
to  disapprove  or  reject  the  services  instituted  in  honor  of 
these  popular  gods.  For  instance,  he  was  satisfied  that 
Jupiter,  who,  according  to  his  opinion,  was  originally  no- 
thing more  than  a  man  deserving  of  human  esteem,  should 
.be  considered  as  a  god,  and  worshipped  as  such.  He 
only  thought  that  if  his  method  of  explanation  was  admit- 
ted to  be  correct,  that  these  accounts  would  be  better  un- 
derstood, as  well  as  be  secured  against  the  objections 
which  people  felt  respecting  the  life  and  actions  of  Jupi- 
ter. He  entertained  the  same  views  also  of  the  other 
gods,  and  it  is  evident  that  one  might  adopt  his  system, 
and  yet  adhere  to  the  common  popular  religion,  and  all  its 
ceremonies  and  abuses,  in  their  whole  extent.  Many  ac- 
tually did  so  ;  his  opinion  found  advocates.  Ennlus  trans- 
lated his  book  into  Latin,^  and  it  was  read  in  different 
places  with  great  approbation,  but  it  never  led  any  one  to 
think  of  making  the  least  change  in  the  regulations  of  the 
public  religion,  or  of  pronouncing  it  illegitimate.  It  is 
true,  the  fathers  of  the  church  afterwards  made  a  careful 
use  of  the  assertions  of  Everemus,  whenever  they  wished 
to  exhibit  the  irrationality  of  the  heathen  mythology,f  but 
they  drew  conclusions  from  this  man's  principles  to  which 
he  himself  was  not  led,  because  he  had  not  the  same  ob- 
ject in  view  which  they  were  seeking  to  advance.  These 
remarks,  however,  I  think  will  be  sufficient  to  show  clear- 
ly, that  none  of  the  wise  of  Greece  ever  soared  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  plan  that  can  be  compared  with  Christ's. 

§  76.  I  pass  on,  therefore,  to  the  Romans.  The  influ- 
ence of  philosophy  was  never  so  extensive  among  them 
before  the  founder  of  Christianity,  as  it  was  in  Greece. 
For  several  centuries  this  nation  had  had  but  little  esteem 
for  the  sciences,  and,  without  their  aid,  been  aspiring  after 

*  Vid.  Cicero,  De  Natura  Deorum,  1.  I.  c.  42,  [Tuscul.  I.  13,  De 
Legg.  II.  14,]  and  Abbe  Foucher's  treatise  ;  Ueber  das  System  des 
Evemerus,  in  Hissman's  Magazin,  Th.  III.  S.  249  fT,  [and  especially 
B6ttiger,IdeenzurKunstmythologie,  §  6.  S.  186  iF.,  Dresden,  1826.] 

t  Comp.  for  instance,  Minucius  Felix,  in  Octauio,  c.  XXL,  with 
the  remarks  of  Elmenhorst  and  Wower,  at  this  passage. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  169 

the  dominion  of  the  world.*  Philosophy,  therefore,  was 
not  introduced  into  this  country  until  at  a  late  period. 
For  a  long  time,  it  remained  solely  in  the  possession  of 
the  rich  and  distinguished,  who  had  property  enough  for 
employing  Greek  instructors  to  assist  them  in  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  it.  A  great  obstacle  to  its  extension,  even 
down  to  the  time  of  Cicero,  was  the  deficiency  of  the 
Latin,  which  created  a  kind  of  impression,  that  the  Greek 
was  the  only  language  in  which  the  truths  of  philosophy 
could  be  delivered  with  energy  and  intelligibility.  Indeed, 
it  required  a  no  less  genius  than  Cicero's,  to  give  the  Latin 
as  much  richness  and  ornament  as  were  requisite,  in  order 
to  prevent  philosophy's  losing  too  much  of  its  perspicuity 
and  impressiveness,  and  the  philosophical  works  of  the 
Romans  from  sinking  too  low,  when  brought  into  compari- 
son with  the  eloquent  writings  of  the  Greeks.  The  pre- 
judicial effects  of  this  circumstance,  even  down  to  the  time 
of  this  great  man,  prevented  the  principles  and  discoveries 
of  philosophy  from  becoming  so  generally  known  as  they 
deserved. 

If,  however,  philosophy  ever  contributed  any  thing  to- 
wards originating  a  very  comprehensiveplan  of  benevolence 
among  the  Romans,  it  must  seemingly  have  done  so,  short- 
ly before  the  founder  of  Christianity  made  his  appearance. 
Those  who  loved  and  cultivated  philosophy  in  Rome,  were 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  state ; — men,  who,  by  their 
influence  in  public  affairs  and  the  important  offices  which 
they  filled,  had  been  accustomed  as  it  were,  to  great  and 
extensive  plans,  and  had  acquired  a  power,  which  ena- 
bled them  to  exert  an  influence  upon  the  best  parts  of  the 
world.  It  would  not  be  wonderful  to  find  that  such  per- 
sons had  been  inspired  by  philosophy  with  a  great  and 
philosophical  plan,  as  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
thought  and  acted,  tended  very  much  to  prepare  them  for 

*  [Hippel,  in  his  Lebensbeschreibung,  S.  273 — 278,  herausg.  v. 
SchlichtegroU,  Gotha,  1801,  has  remarked  in  a  striking  manner,  that 
the  Greeks  were  distinguished  for  philosophy  and  the  cultivation  of 
taste,  and  the  Romans  for  activity  and  an  aversion  to  a  sedentary 
life  and  mere  contemplation.] 

15 


170 

the  purpose.  We  search  among  them,  however,  for  any 
thing  of  the  kind  in  vain.  That  warlike  spirit,  so  peculiar 
to  the  Romans,  appears  here  also  to  have  been  productive 
of  unhappy  effects.  The  republic  was  at  this  time  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  fearful  concussions,  and  upon  the  point 
of  being  transformed  into  a  monarchy.  Such  a  state  of 
things  diverted  the  minds  of  these  men  exceedingly  from 
institutions  of  this  kind,  and  naturally  induced  them  to 
have  a  reference  to  offensive  and  defensive  war,  to  politi- 
cal interests  and  ambitious  measures  for  power,  in  every 
plan  they  invented  and  carried  into  execution. 

In  view  of  all  that  has  now  been  said  I  believe,  that, 
from  the  influence  exerted  by  philosophers  in  regard  to 
the  general  good  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  it  must 
be  inferred,  that  none  who  lived  before  the  founder  of 
Christianity,  can  ever  have  conceived  the  idea  of  forming 
a  plan  of  universal  benevolence ;  for  if  so,  they  would  cer- 
tainly have  left  some  traces  of  it  in  their  actions  and  en- 
terprises. The  most  of  them  indeed  did  but  little  for 
their  own  native  country  ;  how  then  could  they  have  ex- 
tended their  views  beyond  it  ?  Moreover,  as  a  body, 
they  were  all  destitute  of  the  courage  requisite  for  re- 
moving out  of  the  way,  the  insipid  religion  that  prevailed 
among  the  people,  which  was  the  grand  object  that  op- 
posed the  progress  of  general  information.  This  cir- 
cumstance of  itself  is  sufficient  to  prove,  that  these  men 
were  incapable  of  forming  any  great  resolution  in  favor 
of  wisdom  and  virtue,  arid  of  devoting  all  their  powers 
to  the  general  good  of  mankind. 

§  77.  Now  if,  in  addition  to  this,  we  contemplate  the 
systems  which  they  formed  respecting  religion,  virtue,  and 
happiness,  we  shall  perceive  that  the  principles  which 
the  most  of  them  adopted,  rendered  it  impossible  for  their 
minds  to  produce  a  plan  of  such  excellence,  as  we  have 
in  contemplation.  Upon  this  point  1  must  say  a  few 
words. 

It  would  require  too  much  prolixity,  and  indeed  it  would 
be  superfluous,  for  me,  in  this  place,  to  give  a  develop- 
ment of  the  systems  adopted  by  the  most  distinguished 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  171 

philosophical  schools  of  antiquity.  My  present  object 
does  not  require  this  detail ;  and  besides,  the  task  has  al- 
ready been  performed  by  others.  There  is  a  much  short- 
er way  of  ascertaining  how  much  the  ancient  philoso- 
phers were  able  to  undertake  for  the  general  good,  upon 
the  supposition  that  they  remained  faithful  to  their  princi- 
ples and  thought  consistently,  and  whether  their  ideas  of 
virtue  and  happiness  could  ever  have  originated  a  plan  of 
universal  benevolence.  In  order  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion, 
we  have  only  to  make  ourselves  familiar  with  their  opin- 
ions respecting  what  constituted  the  chief  good,  upon 
which  point  they  have  often  expressed  themselves  with 
great  clearness.  Whatever  a  school  affirmed  to  be  the 
chief  good,  was,  with  it,  the  supreme  law  of  ethics.  Now 
an  examination  of  this  principle  will  enable  us  to  ascer- 
tain, whether  the  man  who  thought  and  acted  agreeably 
to  it,  would  ever  have  been  capable  of  that  greatness  of 
soul,  which  a  plan  of  the  given  character  presupposes. 
It  will  be  readily  seen,  without  any  suggestions  from 
me,  that  those  schools,  which  considered  either  the  per- 
ception of  truth,  a  quiet  state  of  indolence,  or  sensuality 
and  the  enjoyment  of  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
-  pleasure,  as, the  chief  good,  would  never  have  been  able, 
by  virtue  of  their  principles,  to  extend  their  views  to 
comprehensive  and  laborious  plans  for  the  general  weal. 
Is  the  perception  of  truth  the  chief  good  after  which  a 
man  must  strive  ?  What  then  can  be  more  his  duty,  than 
to  avoid  all  the  distractions  of  great  matters,  and  seek  a 
quiet  life,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  himself  up  entirely  and 
without  disturbance  to  the  increase  and  correction  of  his 
knowledge  ?  Is  freedom  from  pain  what  a  man  should 
aim  at?  then  it  will  be  his  duty  to  undertake  no  more  la- 
bor than  is  requisite  for  the  health  of  his  body,  and  is 
consistent  with  lasting  rest  and  tranquillity  of  mind.  Ac- 
cording to  this  system,  it  is  foolish  and  wicked,  to  make 
great  and  ceaseless  exertions  of  all  the  powers,  and  noble 
and  free-will  ofierings,  for  the  purpose  of  advancing  the 
morality  and  happiness  of  others.  The  same  is  true  of 
those  who  make  the  chief  good  to  consist  in  the  constant 


172 

enjoyment  of  pleasure.  Such  must  consider  it  their  duty, 
and  the  highest  wisdom,  to  take  the  most  agreeable  view 
of  things,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  place  every  thing  in  that 
relation  to  themselves  from  which  they  can  expect  the 
most  enjoyment.  A  great  part  of  these  schools  maintain- 
ed, that  the  wise  man  pursued  the  best  course  by  passing 
his  life  in  silent  retirement,  away  from  the  noise  of  cities 
and  the  bustle  of  great  business.  Besides,  had  these  phi- 
losophers remained  faithful  to  the  explanations  which  they 
themselves  gave  of  their  own  principles,  they  must  have 
considered  many  ignoble  actions  at  least  as  allowable,  for 
they  would  appear  to  contribute  something  to  the  amount 
of  that  pleasure  which  they  had  elevated  to  the  rank  of 
the  chief  good. 

I  am  very  far  from  attributing  to  Epicurus  and  his  ad- 
herents, all  the  shameful  consequences  which  have  so  .often 
been  deduced  from  the  principle  of  this  school  respecting 
the  chief  good,  by  an  enumeration  of  which,  the  eloquent 
Cicero  was  able  to  represent  its  system  in  so  prejudicial  a 
light.  If  the  assumed  principle  had  been  explained  with 
as  much  acuteness  as  it  usually  was  by  Epicurus  himself, 
those  ambiguous  and  indefinite  notions,  which  introduc- 
ed so  much  confusion  and  obscurity  into  his  system, 
would  have  been  rendered  clear  and  definite.  Final- 
ly, had  this  principle  been  purified  from  those  other 
base  and  excursive  thoughts  that  did  not  properly  belong 
to  it,  it  might  perhaps  have  been  made  the  foundation  of 
a  system  which  to  many  would  appear  to  be  the  only  true 
and  tenable  one,  for,  as  rightly  understood,  it  is  nothing 
more  than  the  position  of  rational  self-love.  As  Epicurus 
employed  it,  however,  as  his  followers  understood  it,  and 
as,  indeed,  from  not  having  been  defined  with  sufficient 
accuracy,  it  might  be  explained,  it  must  have  occasioned 
misunderstandings  and  extravagances,  and  have  altogether 
suppressed  that  mode  of  thinking  which  enables  a  man  to 
perform  every  thing  for  the  general  good,  and  makes  one 
feel,  that  he  never  tasted  of  the  greatest  and  sweetest 
pleasure,  until  he  had  rendered  himself  useful  to  others, 
and  been  the  means  of  adding  considerably  to  the  amount 


DEVISED   BY   THE  ANCIENTS.  173 

of  human  happiness  in  the  world.  How  was  it  possible 
for  that  mind  to  elevate  itself  to  great  and  benevolent 
plans,  which  looked  upon  the  Deity  as  unspeakably  happy, 
merely  because  he  had  nothing  to  do, — nothing  which  call- 
ed for  the  exercise  of  care  ?  To  free  one's  self  from 
all  business,  and  avoid  all  effort  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  others,  was,  according  to  this  system,  to  imitate  God. 

From  these  observations  it  follows,  that  very  many  of 
the  philosophers  of  antiquity  must  have  been  prevented 
by  the  very  principles  upon  which  their  morality  was 
founded,  from  having  any  conception  of  that  greatness  of 
mind  in  which  alone  such  a  noble  resolution  as  that  of 
which  we  are  here  speaking,  could  have  originated.  It  is 
not  a  matter  of  astonishment,  therefore,  that  we  meet 
with  no  exahed  thoughts  of  the  kind  among  them.  In 
order  to  be  capable  of  such,  they  must  have  changed 
their  entire  mode  of  thinking,  and  the  whole  system  of 
their  conceptions. 

§  78.  For  those  sects,  however,  which  declared  virtue 
to  be  the  chief  good,  whatever  definition  they  gave  to  their 
fundamental  position,  a  way  certainly  stood  open,  which 
would  have  led  them  to  the  attainment  of  this  greatness, 
provided  they  had  had  eyes  to  see  it,  and  spirit  and 
strength  to  enter  upon  it.  Hence,  we  actually  find  that 
the  Stoics  approximated  nearer  to  the  idea  of  such  a  plan, 
than  any  others.  Their  principles  were,  that  all  men, 
connected  together  as  they  are  by  a  natural  relationship, 
ought  to  consider  each  other  as  brethren  ;  that,  as  a  body, 
they  are  the  citizens  of  a  great  state,  and  hence,  bound  to 
love  and  assist  each  other ;  that  he  who  acts  from  selfish 
motives,  does  not  understand  his  true  interests,  but  that 
he  only  lives  agreeably  to  nature,  and  of  course,  happy, 
who  lives  for  others ;  and  that  the  human  soul  is  related  to 
the  Deity,  and  maintains  its  dignity  only  when  it  endeav- 
ors to  think  and  act  in  unison  with  the  Deity.  These 
principles,  considered  in  respect  to  their  consequences, 
might  certainly  have  led  those  who  adopted  them  to  the 
formation  of  such  a  plan  as  that  devised  by  the  author  of 
Christianity.  Indeed,  they  did  almost  produce  such  an 
15* 


174 

effect  upon  Cicero,  who,  as  is  well  known,  in  his  work, 
De  Officiis,  mainly  followed  the  principles  of  the  Stoics ; 
for  he  concedes,  that  it  would  be  far  more  agreeable  to 
the  laws  of  nature,  for  any  one,  like  the  benevolent  Her- 
cules, to  undertake  the  greatest  labor,  and  the  most  un- 
pleasant tasks,  for  the  preservation  and  happiness  of  all 
nations,  than  to  pass  one's  life  in  quiet  solitude,  without 
any  unpleasant  circumstances,  amidst  a  flow  of  the  most 
delicious  enjoyments.  But  he  questions  the  possibility  of 
the  thing,  and,  as  it  were,  sinks  down  again,  without  hav- 
ing reached  the  height  to  which  he  was  approximating."* 
The  same  assertion  is  also  to  be  made  respecting  other 
passages  to  be  met  with  here  and  there  in  the  ancient 
writers,  which  are  of  an  exalted  character,  and  appear 
to  contain  sparks  of  that  divine  fire  with  which  the  found- 
er of  Christianity  was  animated  in  the  formation  of  his 
resolution.  Not  a  spirit  of  antiquity  before  him,  was  bold 
and  strong  enough  to  trace  out  the  essential  positions  of 
Stoical  morality  to  their  results,  and  from  them  to  devel- 
op the  great  thought,  that  enlightening  and  improving 
mankind,  and  rendering  them  happy,  is  not  only  the  high- 
est goal  of  human  virtue  and  exaltation,  but  one  within 
the  reach  of  possibility. 

§  79.  Perhaps  certain  other  positions,  which  were  re- 
ceived into  the  system  of  the  Stoics,  and  connected  with 
the  above  named  principles,  caused  even  those  men,  who 
had  been  enlightened  and  ennobled  by  this  philosophy, 
to  remain  within  the  ordinary  narrow  limitation.  The 
ideal  perfection  of  their  wise  men  was  so  extravagant,  and 
had  so  little  respect  to  human  nature,  that  he  whose  ob- 
ject was,  to  acquire  that  genuine  human  greatness,  which 
consists  in  a  due  application  of  all  the  powers  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  world,  was  led  on  to  the  attainment  of  a  spe- 
cious and  empty  sublimity,  after  which  human  nature 
must  forever  strive  in  vain.  The  Stoical  sage  loved  vir- 
tue without  regard  to  profit,  merely  for  her  own  sake,  and 
strove  after  that  state  of  indifference  to  pleasure  and  pain 

*  De  Officiis,  1.  III.  c.  5.  §  25. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  175 

and  every  external  change,  which  divested  them  of  all 
disturbing  power,  and  ensured  him  that  peace  and  tran- 
quillity of  soul,  which  would  enable  him  to  keep  the 
laws  of  eternal  order  constantly  before  him,  and  to  obey 
them  with  alacrity.  He  aimed,  in  a  certain  respect,  to 
surpass  the  Deity  himself,  and  acquire  renown  for  an 
excellence,  of  which  the  most  exalted  beings  are  desti- 
tute.^ To  this  firm,  serious,  and  immovable  sage,  all 
ordinary  men,  from  his  own  height  downwards,  must 
have  appeared  as  a  ftir  lower  class  of  beings, — as  contemp- 
tible fools,  and  miserable  slaves.  Such  a  man,  there- 
fore, had  too  little  sympathy,  too  little  tender  feeling  for 
each  individual  of  the  human  race,  and,  of  course,  too 
little  active  love  to  the  multitude  at  large,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  too  busily  occupied  with  his  own  great- 
ness and  the  attainment  of  that  precipitous  height,  which 
he  looked  upon  as  the  goal  of  human  perfection,  even  to 
think  of  forming  a  very  comprehensive  plan  of  benevo- 
lence, which  should,  in  reality,  be  adapted  to  the  human 
race,  in  all  its  circumstances.  As  soon  as  a  man  formed 
the  design  of  approximating  to  this  ideal  perfection,  he 
necessarily  receded  from  that  kind  disposition,  that  be- 
nevolent condescension  towards  all  men,  and  that  sy^npa- 
thizing  pliability  which  are  indispensably  necessary  to  the 
formation  of  such  a  plan  ;  how  far,  no  one  has  exhibited 
in  a  clearer  light  than  Cicero,  well  as  he  knew  how,  in 
other  cases,  to  bring  forward  what  was  of  public  utility  in 
the  morality  of  the  Stoics.  The  excellent  observations 
that  he  makes  upon  the  character  of  Cato  the  younger,  in 
his  oration  for  Muraena  afford  a  most  exact  confirmation  of 
what  T  have  just  said.  Perhaps  of  all  who  ever  attempted 
the  difficult  task  of  reaching  the  perfection  of  a  truly  wise 
man,  agreeably  to  the  requisitions  of  the  Stoical  philoso- 

*  Seneca  in  his  work,  entitled,  "  Quare  bonis  viris  mala  accidant, 
cum  sit  prouidentia,"  among  other  things,  makes  the  Deity  say  the 
following  to  those  wise  men,  educated  according  to  Stoical  princi- 
ples :  "  At  multa  incidunt  tristia,  horrenda,  dura  toleratu !  quia  non 
poteram  vos  istis  subducere,  animos  vestros  aduersus  omnia  armaui. 
Ferte  fortiter,  hoc  est,  quo  Deum  antecedatis.  Ille  extra  patientiam 
malorum  est :  vos  supra  patientiam."    Cap.  VI 


176 

phy,  Cato  went  the  farthest.*  Now  Cicero  shows  that 
this  very  thing  unfitted  him  for  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed,  and  rendered  him  incapable  of  performing 
his  duties  in  a  manner,  wise,  and  useful  to  the  public.f 
The  unnatural  and  extravagant  notions  of  true  wisdom, 
therefore,  contained  in  the  system  of  the  Stoics,  directly 
opposed  as  they  often  were  to  the  simple  feelings  of  hu- 
man nature,  must  have  deprived  every  Stoic  of  the  dispo- 
sition to  make  wisdom  and  virtue,  universal ;  for,  agreea- 
bly to  the  confessions  of  this  party  itself,  it  was  possible 
for  but  a  few  to  approximate  to  that  exalted  pattern  of  a 
truly  wise  man,  which  had  been  marked  out  by  its  mem- 
bers as  the  goal  of  perfection. {  He  who  carries  every 
thing  to  such  an  extreme,^  and  adopts  precepts  with  so 
little  regard  to  human  nature,  must,  on  that  very  account, 
confine  himself  to  a  few,  and  can  never  think  of  project- 
ing a  universal  plan. 

*  At  least  Seneca  thought  so,  De  constantia  sapientis,  c.  7. 

t  Comp.  the  excellent  passage  in  Cicero's  Orat.  Pro  Muraena, 
cap.  29—31. 

t  No  man  has  said  this  in  a  more  impressive  manner  than  Epicte- 
tus,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  this  school.  Vid.  Arrian's  Diss., 
1.  II.  c.  19.  p.  288  seqq.  [Tom.  I.  Schweighaus.  Epicteteae  Philos. 
Monumenta.] 

§  "  Isti  ipsi  mihi  videntur,"  says  Cicero  in  the  passage  quoted,  c.  31 , 
"  vestri  praeceptores  et  virtutis  magistri  fines  officiorum  paulo  Ion- 
gius,  quam  natura  vellet,  protulisse  :  vt,  cum  ad  vltimum  animo  con- 
tendissemus,  ibi  tamen,  vbi  oporteret,  consisteremus."  Seneca, 
however,  very  frankly  admits,  that  the  requisitions  of  the  Stoical 
morality  are  often  too  extravagant.  "  Quaedam,"  says  he,  De  Be- 
nef.  1.  VII.  c.  22,  "  praecipimus  vltra  modum,  vt  ad  verum  et  suum 
redeant."  And  directly  after,  chap.  23,  "  quoties  parum  fiduciae 
est  in  his,  quibus  imperas,  amplius  est  exigendum,  quam  satis  est,  vt 
praestetur,  quantum  satis  est.  In  hoc  omnis  hyperbole  excedit,vtad 
verum  mendacio  veniat."  Plutarch,  in  his  work,  De  Stoicorum  re- 
pugnantiis,  p.  309,  [Reisk.  Vol.  X.]  quotes  a  passage  of  Chrysippus, 
in  which  it  is  expressly  asserted,  that  the  morality  of  the  Stoics  was 
too  poetical  to  be  adapted  to  human  nature. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  177 


Founders  of  religions. 


§  80.  It  remains  for  us  now  to  cast  a  glance  at  that 
class  of  the  meritorious  men  of  antiquity,  who  may,  in  the 
next  place,  be  compared  with  the  founder  of  Christianity, 
namely,  the  founders  of  religions.  In  this  respect,  a  sur- 
vey of  the  whole  of  antiquity  presents  us  with  very  lit- 
tle. Most  of  the  ancient  religions  had  no  author,  as 
far  as  we  know,  but  appear  to  have  been  originated 
gradually  by  the  united  operation  of  various  causes  ;*  and 
those  that  had,  were  miserable  superstitions,  prejudicial 
to  morality  and  happiness,  and  will  not  authorize  us  to 
reckon  those  who  introduced  and  perfected  them,  among 
the  benefactors  of  mankind.  What  Plato  and  other  dis- 
cerning men  among  the  Greeks  thought  of  the  poets  of 
their  nation,  considered  as  the  authors  and  propagators  of 
mythology  and  the  popular  religion,  is  well  known ;  as 
also  how  they  found  it  necessary  to  animadvert  upon  the 
pernicious  influence  which  such  fables  and  representations 
exerted  upon  morals,  and  to  take  measures  for  its  diminu- 
tion.f  Whatever  might  be  said  respecting  the  mythology 
of  the  Greeks,  is  equally  applicable,  and  in  some  respects 
more  so,  to  the  various  kinds  of  superstition  which  pre- 
vailed among  other  nations.  None  of  these  religions  was, 
in  any  respect,  calculated  for  great  and  extensive  plans. 
Indeed,  every  one  of  them  contained  so  much  in  its  fun- 
damental principles  and  precepts,  of  a  national  and  local 
character,  that  it  could  not  well  be  imparted  to  several 
nations. 

In  the  whole  circle  of  antiquity,  therefore,  before  Jesus, 
only  three  men  can  be  discovered,  that  exhibit  the  dignity 

*  Meiner,  De  falsarum  religionum  origine  ac  differentia,  in  the 
Commentationes  Societ.Reg.  Scient.  Goettin.  Antiquior.,Tom.  VII. 
p.  58  seqq. 

t  Plato,  De  Republica,  1.  III.  p.  260  seq.  Bip.  ed.  [Tom.  VI. ;]  par- 
ticularly Plutarch,  throughout  his  works;  for  instance,  De  audiendis 
poetis,  De  Iside  et  Osiride,  etc.,  [Vol.  VI.  u.  VII.,]  and  Pliny,  Hist. 
Nat.  1.  II.  0.  5. 


178 

of  benevolent  founders  of  religions,  and  of  course  de- 
serve an  honorable  mention  in  this  place ;  namely,  Mo- 
ses, Zerdusht  or  Zoroaster,  and  Kong-fu-tsee  or  Con- 
fucius. 

§  81.  Moses,  the  zealous  defender  of  Monotheism,  at 
a  time  when  Polytheism  was  universal,  was  the  author  of  a 
religious  constitution,  which  was  designed,  in  all  its  parts, 
for  preserving  free  from  corruption,  at  least  so  far  as  a  single 
nation  was  concerned,  a  belief  in  one  true,  supreme  God, 
and  guarding  it  against  all  the  abominations  of  idolatry. 
To  accomplish  this  object  in  a  happy  manner,  it  was  in- 
dispensably necessary  for  him  to  separate  the  nation  in 
which  so  precious  a  jewel  was  to  be  deposited  for  safe 
keeping,  from  other  nations;  give  it  a  residence  in  a  coun- 
try separated  by  natural  boundaries  from  all  other  coun- 
tries ;  and,  by  appropriate  laws  and  regulations,  confine  it 
to  this  residence,  and  render  all  intercourse  between  it 
and  foreigners,  as  difficult  as  possible.  It  was  necessary 
for  him  to  furnish  this  nation  with  a  constitution  which 
should  bring  it  in  direct  and  lasting  opposition  to  all  other 
nations,  and  to  treat  it  as  a  holy  people,  chosen  by  the  su- 
preme God  himself,  and  entirely  consecrated  to  his  ser- 
vice. Such  was  the  object  which  Moses  actually  kept  in 
view,  and  such  the  spirit,  which,  in  all  his  acts  of  legisla- 
tion, he  labored  to  breathe  into  his  countrymen.  All  his 
precepts,  whether  they  had  reference  to  civil  order,  or  the 
cultivation  and  improvement  of  land ;  to  domestic  life,  re- 
ligious ceremonies,  or  the  relation  of  the  Israelites  to  for- 
eign nations,  contributed  something  towards  reminding 
them  that  the  only  and  supreme  God  was  their  ruler 
and  king,  their  country  his  favorite  country,  and  they 
themselves  his  chosen  property.*  Moses,  therefore,  was 
obliged  to  confine  the  plan  of  his  religious  establish- 
ment, entirely  to  the  nation  for  which  he  legislated,  and 


*  No  one  has  represented  this  in  a  more  detailed  and  convincing 
manner,  than  Spencer,  De  legibus  Hebraeorum  ritualibus,  the  whole 
first  book  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  exhibition  of  this  proof. 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  179 

was  incapacitated  from  even  drawing  other  nations  into  it. 
The  grand  truth,  that  is,  the  doctrine  of  one  only  true 
God,  for  the  preservation  of  which,  among  his  fellow  citi- 
zens, every  thing  was  designed  and  executed,  together 
with  the  practical  truths  depending  upon  it  and  connected 
with  it,  does  indeed  constitute  the  substance  of  all  ration- 
al religion,  and  consequently  deserves  universal  extension. 
Moses,  however,  in  his  time,  would  have  labored  for  the 
accomplishment  of  such  an  object  in  vain,  had  he  at- 
tempted it.  He  had  enough  to  do,  for  securing  the 
continuance  of  this  great  doctrine  simply  among  his  own 
people.  Accordingly  he  kept  this  thing  in  view,  and 
so  entirely  was  his  attention  occupied  by  the  almost  in- 
superable difficulties  opposed  in  the  way  of  his  religious 
institutions,  by  the  roughness  and  indocility  of  these  wild 
nomads,  that  he  did  not  once  think  of  imparting  this 
truth  to  other  nations.  At  any  rate,  the  more  every  thing 
he  prescribed  was  adapted  to  his  own  nation,  the  more 
was  it  calculated  to  give  this  nation  an  individuality  in  the 
country  of  which  it  was  to  retain  possession,  which  ren- 
dered any  intermixture  with  foreign  nations,  impossible  ; 
and  the  less  capable  were  his  regulations  of  a  wider  exten- 
sion. So  entirely  was  genuine  Mosaicism  bound  to  Pa- 
lestine, that  it  could  not  have  been  transplanted  into  an- 
other region  without  losing  its  real  nature  and  form.* 
Hence,  the  reason  why  the  author  of  Christianity,  whose 
plan  was  of  unlimited  extent  as  has  already  been  shown, 
resolved  to  abolish  the  Mosaic  regulations.  Moses,  there- 
fore, does  indeed  remain  worthy  of  lasting  honor,  and 
must  be  reckoned  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  our 
race,  for  having  preserved  and  cherished  the  kernel,  out 
of  which  Providence  intended,  at  a  future  period,  to  de- 
velop a  religion  designed  for  the  world,  and  calculated  to 


*  Michaelis,  Mosaisches  Recht,  6Theile,8,  [Commentaries  on  the 
Laws  of  Moses,  transl.  by  Smith,  four  Vols.  8vo,  Lond.,  1814,  Tr.] 
gives  the  best  explanation  of  this  matter.  Comp.  also  his  Commen- 
tationos  in  Societat.  Reg.  Scient.  Goetting.,  praelect.  IX.   and  X. 


180 

render  all  happy  ;  but  who  would  examine  him  to  discov- 
er a  plan  which  may  be  compared  to  that  of  Jesus  ? 

§  82.  In  what  relates  to  Zerdusht,  or  Zoroaster  the 
Mede,  of  whom  I  am  now  to  speak,  I  suppose  it  to  be  de- 
cided, that  the  books  of  the  Zend-Avesta,  lately  brought  in- 
to Europe,*  contain  the  real  principles  of  this  reformer  of 
the  Magian  religion.  The  close  investigations  that  have 
been  made  respecting  the  genuineness  and  antiquity  of  this 
remarkable  work,  have  turned  out  so  much  to  its  advantage, 
that  nothing  farther  can  be  justly  required. f  By  the  same 
means  it  has  also  been  shown,  that  the  spirit  of  the  relig- 
ion taught  by  Zoroaster,  notwithstanding  the  superstition  it 
contains,  and  much  that  is  incapable  of  proof,  and  the  nu- 
merous ceremonies  and  petty  formalities  with  which  it  is 
burdened,  is,  in  many  respects,  benevolent  and  exalting  to 


*  [By  Anquetil  da  Perron.  Much  had  been  said,  both  by  French 
and  English  travellers,  though  but  little  was  known,  respecting 
the  religion  of  the  ancient  Persians,  the  Guebers  or  Gauers  and 
their  sacred  books,  the  Zend-Avesta  or  Living  Word,  previous  to 
the  time  of  this  gentleman,  who,  during  a  residence  in  India,  acquir- 
ed a  knowledge  of  the  saered  language  in  which  these  books  are 
written,  and,  on  his  return  to  Europe,  in  1762,  brought  copies  of  them 
with  him,  a  French  translation  of  which  he  published  in  1771.  Ev- 
ery thing  respecting  them  has  since  been  thoroughly  investigated 
by  the  Germans,  as  may  be  seen  by  consulting  the  books  referred  to 
in  the  notes,  a  short  article  in  the  Bibl.  Repos.,  No.  If.  p.  407,  and 
the  articles,  Zend-Avesta  and  Zoroaster,  in  the  Convs.  Lex.,  or  the 
Encyclopedia  Americana,  now  in  a  course  of  publication.     Tr.] 

+  Comp.  Meiner's  four  treatises  respecting  Zoroaster  and  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Persians,  [in  which  the  genuineness  of  the  Zend-Avesta 
is  attacked,]  in  the  Commentationes  Societ.  Reg.  Scient.  Goetting., 
with  Kleuker's  Inquiry,  [in  which  its  genuineness  is  defended,]  re- 
specting the  character,  age,  and  worth  of  the  Zendic  books,  in 
the  second  Vol.  of  his  Anhang  zum  Zend-Avesta,  and  Tychsen's 
first  Commentatio,  De  religionum  Zoroastricarum  apud  exteras 
gentes  vestigiis,  Vol.  XI.  of  the  Commentationes  already  quoted, 
p.  112  seqq.  [The  following  have  decided  in  favor  of  at  least  the 
partial  genuineness  of  the  Zend-Avesta,  viz.  Wahl,  Gesch.  der  mor- 
genland.  Sprachen  und  Litteratur,  S.  341 ;  Buhle,  Lehrbuch  der 
Gesch.  der  Philosophic,  I.  66 — 71,  where  a  connected  representation 
is  given -of  the  arguments  on  both  sides;  Heeren ;  Joh.  v.  Mailer, 
Werke  VI.  135;  Creuzer,  Symbolik,  I.  6.55:  and  Rask,  Ueber  Alter 
und  Echtheit  der  Zendsphrache  und  des  Zend-Avesta,  von  v.  Hao-en, 
Berlin,  1826.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  181 

the  heart.  The  worshipper  and  servant  of  Ormuzd*  con- 
sidered himself  as  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  light,  and 
felt  himself  called  upon,  in  common  with  the  holy  creator 
of  this  kingdom,  and  those  pure  heavenly  beings  that  de- 
rived their  existence  from  him  and  surrounded  his  throne, 
to  fight  with  all  his  efforts  against  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
ness. He  was  to'  labor,  therefore,  with  ceaseless  exertions 
in  all  he  did,  to  transform  every  thing  to  light ;  he  was  to 
spread  existence,  life,  power,  and  happiness  around  him,* 
and  preserve  himself  pure  from  extravagance  and  vice, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  to  impede  and  suppress 
every  thing  that  might  injure  and  destroy,  or  produce  dis- 
order in  the  moral  and  physical  world. f  This  religion 
infused  into  its  adherents  a  still  and  peaceful  disposition, 
which  led  them  to  keep  public  utility  in  view,  and  which 
quickened,  cultivated,  and  beautified  every  thing,  and 
made  even  the  brute  creation,  so  far  as  they  are  harmless, 
and  inanimate  nature  itself,  objects  of  tender  solicitude 
and  benevolent  care.  Such  a  disposition  the  remnant  of 
these  adherents,  formerly  so  numerous,  in  a  measure,  still 
podsess.f  History,  however,  furnishes  us  with  no  trace 
of  Zoroaster's  ever  having  intended  to  impart  his  religion 

*  [According  to  the  Zoroastric  religion,  two  beings  coexisted 
from  eternity,  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman,  the  principles  of  the  uni- 
verse. Ormuzd  is  the  purest  and  eternal  source  of  light  and  all 
perfections.  Ahriman  originally  partook  of  the  light,  and  was  so 
far  good,  but  by  envying  the  light  of  Ormuzd,  he  eclipsed  his  own, 
and  became  Ormuzd's  enemy,  and  the  father  of  every  thing  evil  and 
of  all  wicked  beings,  who,  in  conjunction  with  himself,  were  drawn 
into  combat  with  the  good,  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  completed  the 
creation  at  different  periods,  the  former  being  father  of  the  good,  and 
the  latter  of  the  evil,  and  the  one  mutually  striving  with  the  other 
after  the  dominion  of  the  world.     Tr.] 

t  Kleuker's  short  representation  of  the  religious  doctrines  of  the 
ancient  Persians  and  their  sacred  worship,  according  to  the  Zendic 
books,  in  the  first  part  of  the  Zend-Avesta,  S.  1  fF.,  or  his  treatise  re- 
specting the  nature  of  the  worship  to  be  paid  to  Ormuzd,  as  founded 
by  Zoroaster,  in  the  Zend-Avesta  im  Kleinen,  Th.  III.  S.  135  ff. 

t  Niebuhr,  Reisebeschreibung  nach  Arabien,  B.  II.  S.  49  f.  [Voy- 
age en  Arable.  The  work  has  been  imperfectly  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  Heron,  but  the  edition  is  not  at  hand.    Tr.] 

16 


182  NO  PLAN    LIKE  CHRISt's 

to  the  whole  world.  That  he  was  anxious,  indeed,  to  have 
other  nations  assent  to  his  principles,  he  has  declared  in 
no  very  indistinct  terms  ;  and  considering  the  zeal,  amount- 
ing almost  to  enthusiasm,  with  which  he  sought  to  give 
them  currency,  it  was  very  natural  that  he  should  be.* 
From  the  Zendic  books  however  themselves,  it  is  clear, 
that  his  entire  plan  was  laid  out  for  his  native  country, 
and  in  general,  could  have  been  carried  into  effect  only  in 
the  despotic  governments  of  Asia.  Every  part  of  it  had 
reference  to  the  Bactrian  kingdom  of  the  Medes,  in  which 
Zoroaster  made  his  appearance,  as  a  founder  of  religion, 
and  a  legislator.  His  object  was  to  transform  the  despot- 
ic government  which  he  found  there,  into  a  mild  and  pa- 
ternal one  ;  the  established  orders  of  which  the  nation  was 
composed,  into  a  well  arranged  and  sympathizing  whole ; 
and  the  rough  nomads  who  consituted  a  great  part  of 
the  people,  into  the  industrious  and  happy  inhabitants  and 
cultivators  of  a  land  which  nature  had  richly  blessed.f 
Notwithstanding  all  the  great,  and  in  some  respects,  exalt- 
ed conceptions  of  Zoroaster,  therefore,  respecting  the 
kingdom  of  light  under  the  control  of  the  good  principle, 
and  its  future  triumph  over  wickedness,  he  was  never  able 
to  form  the  resolution  of  collecting  all  nations  into  it,  and 
thus  becoming  the  benefactor  of  the  whole  human  family.  J 

"•  Comp.  his  life  in  Hyde,  De  religione  veter.  Persar.,  cap.  XIV., 
and  in  Kleuker's  Zend-Avesta,  Th.  III. 

t  Heeren,  Ideen  Ober  die  Politik,  den  Verkehr  nnd  den  Handel 
der  vornehmsten  alten  Volker,  Th.  II.  S.  400—423,  [fourth  ed.  Th. 
I.  Abth.  1,  S.  433—461,  Hist.  Schriften,  Th.  X.] 

t  [Besides,  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  particular  consideration,  that  the 
Zoroastric  religion  was  but  little  adapted  for  universal  extension, 
and  radically  healing  the  moral  diseases  of  mankind.  The  only 
proper  object  of  religious  homage  is  at  least  kept  entirely  out  of  the 
view  of  the  people,  by  means  of  the  obscurity  in  which  the  real 
character  of  Zeruane-Akherene  is  involved.  The  doctrine  respecting 
Ahriman  is  essentially  different  from  the  diabolology  of  the  Bible, 
and  irreconcilable  with  Monotheism.  The  worship  which  it  incul- 
cates is  almost  entirely  lost  in  a  worship  of  nature,  which  cultivates 
an  inclination  for  magic  and  astrology, and  in  which  the  elements  and 
creatures  with  their  genii,  are  invoked.  In  this  case,  a  multitude  of 
external,  strange, trifling,  and  indecent  exercises  and  ceremonies,  are 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  183 

§  83.  Finally,  equally  limited  were  the  plans  of  the 
Chinese  Kong-fu-tsee,  or  Confucius.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  this  man  should  be  reckoned  among  the  found- 
ers of  religions,  or  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  class 
of  philosophers.  He  never  pretended  to  be  a  divine  mes- 
senger, and  never  appealed  to  revelations,  but  solely  to 
the  principles  of  reason.*  As,  however,  he  was  the 
founder  of  a  party  which  still  exists,  and  has  the  form  and 
name  of  a  religious  sect,  it  seems  proper  that  he  should 
be  mentioned  in  this  place.  That  he  never  extended  his 
plans  beyond  the  limits  of  his  native  country,  is  evident 
from  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life.f  The  greater  part  of  it 
was  spent  in  travelling  around  among  his  fellow  citizens, 
and  recommending  to  all  the  practice  of  integrity  and  vir- 
tue. By  means  of  the  influence  which  he  exerted  upon 
the  chief  magistrate  in  the  little  kingdom  of  Lu,  where 
he  was  born,  he  was  enabled  to  give  it  a  better  constitu- 
tion ;  but  this  influence  being  diminished  by  a  change  of 
disposition  in  this  magistrate,  he  left  court,  and  turned 
back  to  the  troublesome,  and  for  him  at  that  time,  danger- 
ous business  of  a  travelling  teacher  of  virtue,  in  which  he 
continued  until  his  death.  J    When  be  died,  his  hopes  of 

required,  which  are  altogether  incompatible  with  a  free  and  pure 
morality,  and  often  cherish  inhumanity  itself.  Comp.  Schlegel, 
Ueber  den  Geist  der  Religiositat  aller  Zeiten  und  Volker,  I.  263 — 
319.  One  will  therefore  hardly  be  able  to  approve  of  Ewald's  opin- 
ion, (Die  Religionslehren  der  Bibel,  I.  110,)  that  Zoroaster  must  be 
admitted,  in  a  certain  sense,  to  have  been  inspired.  So  far  is  this 
opinion  from  being  necessary,  that  even  Ewald  himself  concedes, 
that  Zoroaster  may  have  borrowed  the  best  part  of  his  religion  from 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  Jahn,  in  his  Biblical  Archseology,  III,  151 — 
153,  has  shown  this  to  have  been  the  case,  from  a  multitude  of  ex- 
amples, and  the  same  has  been  done  in  Zoroaster's  Life,  (Kleuker's 
Grosser  Zend-Avesta,  III.  14.)  Comp.  Storr,  Opuscul.  Acad.  II. 
425;  Prideaux's  Connexion,  I.  269.  262  seqq.  Lond.  1808.  Tr.] 

*  Zoroastre,  Confucius  et  Mahomet  compares  comme  Sectaires, 
Legislateurs  et  Moralistes,  par  Msr.  de  Pastoret,  p.  389  and  396. 

t  Vid.  his  life  in  the  work :  Confucius,  Sinarum  philosophus,  sive 
scientia  Sinensis,  p.  117  seqq. 

t  With  respect  to  his  principles,  compare  Noel,  Sinensis  imperii 
libri  classici  sex,  and  his  Philosophia  Sinica,  both  printed  at  Prague, 


184 

the  success  of  his  efforts  were  so  small,  that  he  almost 
despaired  of  the  possibility  of  improving  his  fellow  citi- 
zens.* If,  in  addition  to  this,  we  take  into  consideration 
the  despondency  so  peculiar  to  him,  and  the  almost  faint- 
hearted humility  with  which  he  used  to  judge  of  himself, 
it  will  appear  evident,  that  he  was  incapable  of  bold  un- 
dertakings or  great  plans. f 

§84.  Among  the  benefactors  of  the  human  race, 
whose  merits  I  have  now'described,  the  priests  of  the  old 
nations  have  not  even  been  deliberately  mentioned.  They 
are  in  no  respect  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  honorable 
men  that  have  occupied  my  attention  ;  for  though  this  or- 
der was  always  appointed  for  the  express  purpose  of  pre- 
serving true  religion,  and  extending  good  dispositions  and 
feelings,  yet  it  is  well  known  from  history,  that  the  priests 
of  the  ancient  nations  not  only  neglected  this  important 
calling,  but  that  they  acted  in  direct  opposition  to  what 
had  been  imposed  upon  them.  They  were  every  where 
zealously  careful  to  maintain  and  propagate  the  crudest 
notions  of  religion,  and  the  most  senseless  forms  of  super- 
stition ;  to  cry  down  and  suppress  all  the  new  light  and 
information  that  might  be  derived  from  philosophy,  while 
they  favored  the  divisions  and  bitter  hostilities  which  orig- 
inated in  a  variety  of  superstitious  religions,  and  employed 
them  to  their  own  advantage.  Very  high  notions  were 
ordinarily  entertained  of  the  wisdom  of  the  old  Egyptian 
priests,  and  it  almost  became  a  custom  to  look  upon  them 
as  the  guardians  of  profound  mysteries,  and  to  send  the 
greatest  men  of  antiquity  to  them  for  instruction.      They 

*  Compare  his  life,  already  quoted,  S.  121. 

t  [Ewald,  indeed,  60  ff.  122  ff.  and  elsewhere,  has  very  properly  sug- 
gested many  things  in  opposition  to  the  too  low  opinion  entertained 
respecting  the  doctrines  of  Confucius  in  Less,  Ueber  die  Religion,  I. 
426  ff.  The  morality  of  Confucius,  however,  ranks  very  low,  and  is 
almost  entirely  destitute  of  thorough-going  religious  elements,  as  is 
shown  in  the  Chouking,  un  des  livres  sacres  des  Chinois,  par  Gau- 
bil  et  de  Guignes,  Par.  1770.  It  embodies  nothing  like  common 
rules  of  wisdom  and  uprightness  for  the  regulation  of  rulers.  Did 
its  laws  and  religion  contain  a  sound,  living  principle,  China  would 
not  present  us  with  the  miserable  spectacle  of  a  stagnant  nation.] 


DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.  185 

were,  however,  very  unworthy  of  this  honor.*  They 
bent  all  their  powers  of  artifice  to  securing  their  dominion 
over  the  Egyptians,  and  maintaining  the  dependence  of 
the  kings  of  that  country  upon  their  order,!  without  doing 
any  thing  towards  enlightening  and  improving  the  people. 
Indeed,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  favor  the  extravagant 
superstition  for  which  Egypt  was  so  infamous  in  antiquity, 
in  order  to  strengthen  their  own  authority.  The  Grecian 
priests  did  not  hang  together  like  those  of  Egypt,  nor  act 
so  much  in  accordance  with  a  regular  plan.  History, 
however,  affords  unquestionable  evidence,  that,  by  sup- 
porting a  superstitious  religion,  they  proved  equally  preju- 
dicial to  truth  and  morality.f  Now,  if  the  human  race 
are  so  little  indebted  to  the  priests  of  these  two  nations, 
considered,  as  they  were,  the  most  distinguished  of  anti- 
quity, what  shall  we  say  of  those  who  were  unable  to  ex- 
cite any  opinion  of  their  being  possessed  of  particular  mer- 
its ?  Enough  !  It  is  needless  to  search  after  any  benev- 
olent plans  for  enlightening  and  improving  mankind,  in  an 
order  whose  very  existence  depended  upon  the  preva- 
lence of  superstition,  and  which  even  went  so  far  as  to 
summon  power,  fraud,  cunning,  and  every  kind  of  art  to 
its  aid,  in  order  to  retain  the  human  mind  in  darkness. 
With  this  state  of  things  the  priests  were  well  pleased;  and 
hence,  the  plan  of  Jesus  was,  as  has  already  been  shown, 
evidently  devised  for  the  purpose  of  taking  away  the  au- 
thority and  even  the  existence  of  an  order,  so  dangerous 
to  truth  and  morality. 

Hitherto,  therefore,  we  have  searched  in  vain  among  all 
the  benefactors  of  the  human  race  to  be  met  with  in  anti- 
quity, in  order  to  find  a  man,  who  thought  in  as  great,  no- 
ble and  benevolent  a  manner  as  the  founder  of  Christiani- 


t  Heeren's  Ideen,  which  has  so  often  been  quoted,  Th.  I.  S.  368 
ff.  [Fourth  ed.,  Th.  II.  Abth.  2.  S.  108—134.  166  f.  190  f.  300.  348 f. 
406  f.,  Hist.  Schriften,  Th.  14.] 

t  De  Pauw,  Recherches  philosophiques  sur  les  Grecs,  Tom.  I. 
p.  315  seqq. 

16* 


186 

ty,  and  succeeded  in  the  attainment  of  enlarged  views  and 
the  formation  of  plans  of  general  utility.  The  result  of 
our  investigations  is  manifestly  this  :  The  human  race 
have  at  all  times  had  great  men,  who,  whenever  circum- 
stances required,  and  special  occasion  presented,  with  a 
noble  solicitude  in  various  ways  devoted  all  their  powers 
to  the  welfare  and  improvement  of  their  brethren  in  the 
respective  countries  to  which  they  belonged.  The  state 
of  the  age,  however,  in  which  they  lived,  and  the  mode  of 
thinking  then  prevalent,  restricted  them  to  narrow  limits, 
and  unhappily  induced  those  spirits  which  were  the  most 
capable  of  bold  undertakings,  to  confine  their  attention 
to  plans,  which  savored  more  of  warlike  courage  and 
strength,  and  a  disposition  to  conquer  others,  than  of  ra- 
tional benevolence  and  gentle  goodness  of  heart.  Benev- 
olent views  extending  to  all,  and  plans  intended  for  the 
good  of  mankind  at  large,  were  unheard  of  in  antiquity. 
The  standard  which  people  then  possessed,  was  a  stand- 
ard for  estimating  a  greatness  of  mind  entirely  different 
from  that  boundless  wisdom  and  goodness,  which  grasp  at 
the  world,  and  are  wholly  engaged  in  the  universal  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  virtue  and  happiness. 

^  85.  As,  therefore,  there  is  no  instance  of  such  a 
man  to  be  met  with  in  history,  so,  as  a  general  conside- 
ration, it  is  very  probable,  that  we  shall  search  even  in  the 
poetical  world  in  vain  for  a  hero,  who  ever  attained  to  such 
greatness.  Indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  fact,  that  no  ancient 
poet  ever  set  up  before  himself  such  an  ideal  perfection. 
Homer,  that  inimitable  master  at  sketching  and  portraying 
human  character,  that  exquisite  painter  of  the  morals  of 
his  age,  never  conceived  of  such  a  thing.  His  heroes 
think  and  act  as  the  limited  knowledge  of  those  times 
and  the  dispositions  and  feelings  of  men,  almost  in  a  state 
of  total  barbarity,  required  them  to  do.*  The  descrip- 
tions which  he  gives  of  his  very  gods  are  destitute  of  every 
trace  of  real  greatness  and  exaltation.     He  who  has  been 

*  Comp.  Koppen,  Ueber  Homers  Leben  und  Gesange,  Abschn. 
III.  S.  165  ff. 


OF  THE 
DEVISED  BY  THE  ANCIENTS.     11^  JN  .ilg7ij  AV  W  A   * 

educated  in  any  measure  agreeably  to  the  princ^|^»  wHidtj^AT^^'^ \% 
Jesus  undertook  to  make  universal,  would  be  ashatn«d-ta.  '  ^^ 
think  and  act  like  the  gods  of  Homer.  The  discerning 
philosophers  of  antiquity  itself  discovered  his  faults  and 
censured  them,  in  this  respect.  Though  Virgil  exhibits 
the  superior  learning  and  refinement  of  his  age,  yet  he  is 
by  no  means  so  happy  in  his  moral  descriptions  as  Ho- 
mer, nor  so  nice  in  the  formation  of  a  character.  His 
^neas  gave  himself  up  to  the  control  of  fate,  without  ever 
devising  or  undertaking  any  thing  great  or  extensive.  In 
general,  the  greatest  men  delineated  by  the  poets  of  anti- 
quity were  heroes,  and  on  that  very  account,  very  far  re- 
moved from  the  formation  of  such  schemes  of  benevo- 
lence, as  those  of  which  we  are  here  in  pursuit.  With 
the  exception,  therefore,  of  the  very  feeble  traces  of  an 
all-comprehensive  goodness,  to  be  met  with  in  the  fictions 
above  quoted  respecting  Osiris  and  Hercules,  which,  by 
the  by,  come  very  far  short  of  what  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity undertook  to  effect,  it  is  manifest,  that  even  the 
poets  of  the  old  world  were  never  able  to  attain  to  those 
elevated  views  and  that  greatness  of  thought,  which  shine 
forth  from  the  intentions  of  Jesus. 

The  plan,  therefore,  devised  by  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity, was  a  new  one,  and  without  example.  The  way 
upon  which  he  entered  had  never  been  marked  by  the 
footsteps  of  a  single  human  being.  No  mind  before  him 
had  ever  conceived  of  a  plan  of  such  compass  and  partic- 
ular benevolence.  What  conclusion  must  be  drawn  from 
this  wonderful  phenomenon  ?  What  shall  we  infer  from 
it  with  respect  to  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  man, 
whose  thoughts  were  wiser,  nobler,  more  exalted,  and 
more  benevolent,  than  those  of  the  greatest  men  before 
him  ?     Let  us  pass  on  to  this  investigation.* 

*  With  the  partf  here  brought  to  a  close,  compare  Appendix  D. 


PART  III. 


FROM  THE  ALL  COMPREHENSIVE    AND    BENEVOLENT  PLAN^ 

DEVISED  BY  JESUS  FOR  THE    GOOD  OF  THE  WORLD, 

IT  FOLLOWS  THAT  HE  WAS  AN  EXTRAORDINARY 

MAN,    AND    A    TEACHER    SENT    OF    GOD. 

§  86.  From  the  preceding  considerations,  it  is  evident, 
that  the  plan  devised  by  the  founder  of  Christianity,  of 
which  an  explanation  has  been  given,  was  unique  in  its 
kind,  and,  in  regard  to  its  unlimited  extent  in  particular, 
entirely  new.  No  inference,  however,  must  be  drawn 
from  this  fact  in  favor  of  Jesus,  before  it  is  decided  that 
his  great  purpose  was  not  a  chimerical  oris,  nor  an  imprac- 
ticable dream.  If  it  were  so,  then  those  exalted  spirits  of 
the  old  world,  in  whose  company  we  have  hitherto  spent 
our  time,  deserve  great  commendation  for  having  never 
once  thought  of  projecting  a  plan  for  the  whole  human 
family, — great  commendation  for  having  confined  them- 
selves to  projects  adapted  to  their  circumstances,  the 
practicability  and  means  of  whose  execution  they  saw  be- 
fore them,  instead  of  following  after  impracticable,  though 
alluring  dreams.  We  must,  therefore,  vindicate  the  plan 
of  Jesus  from  the  objection  that  it  was  a  chimerical  one. 
This  will  be  puv  first  consideration. 

§  87.  We  shall  then  endeavor  to  form  a  conception  of  the 
character  of  a  mind  which  is  capable  of  great  enterprises 
and  plans,  and  unfold  the  qualities  with  which  it  must  be 
furnished.  It  will  thus  be  made  evident,  that  the  founder 
of  Christianity  possessed,  in  a  very  high  degree,  those 


190  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

powers  and  faculties  which  designate  a  great  mind,  and 
that  he  has  exhibited  them  in  the  plan  which  he  form- 
ed for  the  general  good.  In  it  we  shall  discover  a  wis- 
dom and  penetration,  a  firmness  and  decision,  a  be- 
nevolence and  goodness  of  heart,  which  will  justify  the 
conclusion,  that  he  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  man 
that  ever  thought  and  acted  upon  earth.  This  will  be  our 
second  consideration. 

§  88.  Finally,  if  we  can  show,  that  the  founder  of 
Christianity  lived  in  circumstances  which  would,  in  the 
natural  way,  have  suppressed  and  suffocated  all  these  fac- 
ulties ;  if  we  can  show  that  they  were  not  developed  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  that  usually  regulate  the  formation  of 
the  mind  ;  that,  on  the  other  hand,  every  thing  appears  to 
have  been  regulated  by  laws  entirely  new,  and  to  be  met 
with  in  the  case  of  no  other  man ;  and  that  we  cannot  ra- 
tionally and  consistently  account  for  the  development  of 
these  extraordinary  powers,  without  supposing  an  especial 
and  unusual  influence  of  the  Deity  himself;  then  we  shall, 
as  I  think,  be  justified  in  looking  upon  the  founder  of 
Christianity  as  an  extraordinary  teacher,  and  honoring 
him  as  such.  This  will  be  the  substance  of  our  third 
consideration. 


I.  Christ's  plan  not  an  impracticable  one. 

89.  The  greatest  and  most  benevolent  project  ceases 
to  be  the  result  of  genuine  wisdom  and  greatness  of  mind, 
as  soon  as  it  becomes  a  dazzling  dream  and  it  can  be 
shown,  that  its  author  neither  possessed  human  nature, 
nor  had  a  proper  knowledge  of  human  circumstances  and 
events,  and  hence,  struck  upon  thoughts  which  the  profound 
sage,  under  a  conviction  of  the  utter  inutility  of  all  his  la- 
bor, would  never  dare  to  carry  into  execution.  In  this 
light  some  have  endeavored  to  represent  the  plan  of 
Jesus  which  has  been  described,  and  thus  bring  it  in- 
to suspicion.  Indeed,  the  id6a,  in  itself  considered, 
of  acting  in  any  way  for  the  good  of  all,  has  been  look- 


EXTRAOUDlNARt  AND  DIVINE.  191 

ed  upon  as  a  conceit  rather  splendid  than  practical.  It 
has  been  alleged,  that  it  is  impossible  even  to  express  the 
religious  notions,  which  it  was  Christ's  object  to  make 
universal,  in  all  languages,  and  bring  them  within  the 
comprehension  of  all  nations.  Tt  has  been  maintained, 
that  a  universal  religion  is  as  impossible  a  thing  as  a 
universal  medicine,  and  that,  considering  the  infinitely 
great  differences  necessarily  prevalent  among  men  in  re- 
gard to  thinking,  judging,  and  perceiving,  it  is  foolish  to 
aim  at  producing  the  same  convictions  in  all  men,  and 
warming  their  hearts  with  the  same  feelings ;  that,  in 
general,  diversities  of  judgement  and  opinion,  are  not  so 
great  evils  as  weak  heads  usually  maintain ;  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  quicken  the  spirit  of  investigation,  and 
ultimately  prove  the  means  of  leading  to  the  discovery 
of  truth  ;  and  hence,  that  he,  who, would  take  away  this 
freedom  of  thought,  and  make  all  men  harmonize  in  their 
decisions,  not  only  betrays  great  ignorance  of  human  na- 
ture, but  would  rob  the  human  race  of  one  of  its  most 
important  and  sacred  prerogatives,  and  load  it  with  the 
most  horrible  and  insufferable  chains ;  that  it  has  been 
seen,  that  Jesus  was  quite  unable  to  execute  his  plan ;  and 
that  the  Gospel  did  not  effect  that  uniformity  of  conviction, 
that  general  peace,  that  exaltation  of  human  nature,  and 
that  fraternal  union  among  men,  for  which  his  plan  was 
mainly  intended ;  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wild 
extravagancies  and  the  vices  of  every  kind,  together 
with  the  divisions,  contentions,  and  endless  disturbances, 
which  always  prevailed  among  Christians,  and  often 
proved  highly  destructive  to  their  harmony,  afford  the 
clearest  proof  of  the  chimericalness  of  the  idea  of  estab- 
lishing universal  peace  among  men,  by  uniting  them  in 
one  religion,  and  educating  them  in  conformity  to  the 
same  principles  and  precepts. 

These  objections,  which,  in  themselves  considered,  are 
indeed  important,  and,  from  experience,  seem  to  acquire 
almost  invincible  strength,  are  very  far  from  being  new. 
They  were  early  brought  forward  by  Celsus,  in  his  well 
known  work  against  Christianity.     In  modern  times,  how- 


192  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

ever,  they  have  often  been  repeated  in  a  manner  adapted 
to  add  to  their  force.*  We  will,  therefore,  reflect  upon 
the  subject,  and  see  whether  the  idea  of  laboring  for  the 
good  of  all,  generally  speaking,  contained  in  it  any  thing 
impracticable,  and  is  to  be  reckoned  among  chimerical 
dreams  ;  whether,  in  particular,  the  project  of  uniting  all 
mankind  in  the  same  faith  and  religion,  was  a  vain  under- 
taking ;  and  finally,  whether  Christianity,  as  taught  by  its 
founder  and  friends,  was  incapable  of  becoming  a  univer- 
sal religion.  From  an  illustration  of  these  three  points, 
the  above  objections  will  appear  to  be  utterly  futile. 

§  90.  Is  it  therefore,  generally  speaking,  possible  for  a 
man,  by  means  of  a  benevolent  project,  to  operate  for  the 
good  of  all  ? — Were  any  one  to  think  of  forming  a  plan, 
the  benevolent  effects  of  which  should  be  immediately 
perceptible  to  each  individual,  in  order  to  make  all  man- 
kind, without  exception,  happy  in  the  same  way,  he  would 
indeed  engage  in  an  impracticable  thing,  and  give  himself 
up  to  empty  dreams.  No  one,  however,  who  honestly 
uses  words  in  their  ordinary  acceptation,  understands  plans 
of  great  universality,  in  so  strict  a  sense.  We  should  not 
say  that  a  king  acted  in  accordance  with  an  empty  plan, 
who  resolved  upon  governing  his  subjects  in  such  a  man- 
ner, as  to  render  them  all  happy,  because  it  might  be  im- 
possible for  him  to  render  each  individual  of  them  com- 
pletely happy.  On  the  other  hand,  eviery  body  would 
understand  such  a  resolution  as  implying,  that  he  labored 
with  the  greatest  care  and  zeal  to  contribute  to  the  welfare 
of  his  people,  as  far  as  the  imperfection  of  human  affairs 
would  admit.  If  the  majority  of  the  subjects  were  ren- 
dered happy  by  the  government  of  their  prince,  it  would 
be  all  that  could  be  expected,  and  no  inference  could  be 

*  Vid.  Origen  against  Celsus,  lib.  III.  p.  118,  and  lib.  VIII.  p. 
425.  [p.  454  and  795,  Tom.  I.  0pp.  de  la  Rue.]  Those  who  have 
lately  brought  forward  these  objections  anew,  are  sufficiently  known. 
[The  WolfenbOtt.  Fragmentist,  fragment  second  ;  "  The  impossibil- 
ity of  a  revelation,  to  which  all  men  can  yield  the  assent  of  a  well 
grounded  faith  ;"  Lessing's  BeytrHge  zur  Geschichte  und  littera- 
tur,  IV.  288 — 365 ;  also  printed  in  Doederlein's  Fragmente  und  Anti- 
fragraente,  II.  1 — 120,  to  which  follows  an  answer,  S.  121 — 304.] 


\ 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  193 

drawn  from  the  number  of  those  who  were  either  incapa- 
ble of  this  happiness,  or  unwilling  to  enjoy  it,  to  prove  that 
his  resolution  to  do  good  to  all,  was  a  chimera.  To  act 
by  means  of  a  benevolent  plan  therefore,  for  all,  is  to  form 
a  plan  which  may  become  useful  to  all,  so  far  as  human 
circumstances  admit.  It  is  to  invent  a  plan  of  such  gen- 
eral utility,  that  it  can  exert  a  greater  or  less  influence 
upon  the  welfare  of  all,  according  as  external  circumstan- 
ces favor  its  execution.  In  the  formation  of  such  a  plan, 
therefore,  respect  is  paid  in  the  first  place,  to  the  imper- 
fection of  human  affairs.  He  who  projects  such  a  plan 
never  thinks  of  being  able  to  exert  as  efficacious  an  in- 
fluence upon  every  individual,  and  of  doing  every  one  as 
much  good,  as  he  would  be  glad  to  do. 

As  little  can  any  one  who  contemplates  the  formation 
of  a  plan  of  benevolence  for  the  benefit  of  all,  think  of 
rearing  an  institution,  which  shall  in  a  manner  accomplish 
the  purpose  at  once.  The  greater  the  extent  of  a  man's 
undertakings,  the  more  difficulties  will  they  involve,  and 
the  more  time  will  they  require  for  being  carried  into  ex- 
ecution. This  is  especially  the  case  with  regard  to  those 
plans  that  have  reference  to  enlightening  and  improving 
mankind.  People  do  not  readily  relinquish  those  con- 
victions and  opinions  which  have  once  been  adopted,  and 
by  various  circumstances  rendered  dear  and  venerable. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  usually  adhere  to  them  with  an 
obstinate  pertinacity,  as  well  as  to  those  customs  and 
modes  of  action  in  which  they  were  educated,  and  with 
which  they  are  usually  perfectly  satisfied.  It  requires 
much  time  to  reform  a  single  man  ;  how  much  more 
then  will  be  necessary  to  renovate  and  regenerate  a  na- 
tion, or  the  whole  human  family  ?  This  view  of  the 
subject  renders  it  perfectly  evident,  that  he  who  delineates 
a  plan  of  universal  extent,  cannot  think  of  carrying  it 
speedily  into  execution,  but  must  fix  upon  a  long  series 
of  years,  or  rather  of  centuries,  for  the  gradual  extension 
of  his  improvements.  Such  a  plan,  from  the  very  fact 
of  its  great  elevation  and  universality,  can  never  be  real- 
ized in  the  highest  perfection  to  which  the  original  con- 
17 


194 

ception  must  be  carried,  but  there  is  a  gradual  and  con- 
stant approximation  in  this  respect.  The  question,  there- 
fore, whether  it  is  possible  for  a  man,  by  means  of  a  benev- 
olent plan,  to  operate  for  the  good  of  all  his  race,  accu- 
rately stated,  is  as  follows  ;  Is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  in- 
vent a  plan,  the  general  utility  of  which  shall  be  such, 
that,  if  gradually  carried  into  execution,  it  shall,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  exert  an  important  and  universal 
influence  upon  the  welfare  of  the  human  race  at  large  ? 

Now  he  who  resolves  to  maintain  the  impracticability 
of  forming  and  executing  such  a  plan,  undertakes  to 
prove  a  great  deal.  He  must  either  show,  that  no  human 
mind  can  ever  possess  so  much  power,  wisdom,  and  com- 
prehensive benevolence,  as  a  plan  of  this  character  pre- 
supposes ;  or  he  must  be  able  to  show,  that  the  human 
race  can  never  be  thrown  into  those  circumstances,  and 
those  relations  to  each  other  which  will  enable  a  benevo- 
lent plan  to  obtain  a  universal  influence.  It  appears  that 
neither  of  these  positions  can  be  proved  in  a  convincing 
manner. 

For  how  can  the  first  be  proved  ?  It  is  evident  that 
we  are  not  able  before  hand  and  from  general  principles, 
to  determine  with  the  requisite  certainty,  what  is  possible 
to  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  and  what  not.  The 
human  mind  has  invented  things  and  performed  acts, 
which  would  previously  have  been  considered  as  altogetlv- 
er  impossible.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  history  presents 
us  with  very  unexpected  examples  of  the  most  disinter- 
ested attachment  to  duty,  the  most  active  benevolence, 
and  the  most  magnanimous  sacrifices  for  the  public  weal. 
Every  rational  being  therefore  possesses  in  kind,  the  fun- 
damental powers,  whether  of  a  moral  or  physical  charac- 
ter, requisite  to  the  formation  of  such  a  plan,  though  in 
an  endless  variety  of  degrees.  Now  by  what  means  can 
it  be  proved,  that  these  powers  will  never  be  met  with  in 
the  high  degree,  nor  cultivated  to  the  perfection,  neces- 
sary to  the  formation  of  a  plan  of  the  above  description } 
Who  has  explored  all  the  depths  of  the  human  mind,  and 
thoroughly  examined  all  the  circumstances  and  relations 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  ,195 

into  which  it  may  be  thrown,  and  by  which  its  powers  may 
be  awakened,  exercised  and  exalted  ?  I  must  ask  far- 
ther ;  who  is  acquainted  with  the  most  secret  counsels  of 
Providence,  and  able  positively  to  assert,  that  he  never 
will  make  use  of  an  individual  for  the  purpose  of  doing 
an  important  benefit  to  the  whole  human  family  ?  And 
finally,  who  is  able  to  show,  that  it  is  even  impossible  for 
God  to  furnish  an  individual  with  all  the  powers  and  tal- 
ents requisite  to  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  task  ? 
And  yet  no  One,  short  of  all  this,  can  knowingly  maintain 
that  the  human  mind  is  altogether  inadequate  to  such  a 
plan.  Now,  as  no  one  will  pretend  to  possess  all  this 
knowledge,  and  be  able  to  adduce  such  proof,  it  follows, 
that  he,  who,  on  account  of  the  limitation  of  our  minds, 
declares  the  idea  of  being  useful  to  all  by  means  of  a 
salutary  plan,  to  be  a  chimera,  makes  an  arrogant  decision, 
to  which  a  discreet  and  impartial  thinker  would  find  it 
impossible  to  accede.  That  the  invention  of  such  a  plan 
is  too  great  for  ordinary  minds,  I  readily  admit.  So  far 
are  they  from  being  able  to  form  and  execute  any  thing 
of  the  kind,  that  the  thoughts  themselves  lie  altogether 
beyond  their  reach.  A  man,  however,  as  I  think,  must 
have  a  very  common  mind  and  be  a  very  ordinary  genius, 
who  absolutely  denies  that  any  human  spirit  is  capable  of 
such  elevation,  such  extension  of  thought. 

As  difficult  will  it  be  to  prove  the  second  position,  or 
that  the  human  race  can  never  be  brought  into  those  cir- 
cumstances and  those  relations  to  each  other,  by  means 
of  which  a  salutary  plan  may  obtain  universal  influence. 
It  is  true,  that  there  has  never  yet  been  such  a  period. 
Hitherto,  a  multitude  of  causes  have  kept  mankind  so 
distinct  from  each  other,  that  all  benevolent  enterprises 
and  institutions,  however  general  their  utility  and  great  their 
effects,  have  necessarily  been  confined  to  a  larger  or 
smaller  portion  of  the  human  race.  Even  those  inven-. 
tions,  such  as  agriculture,  the  art  of  writing,  and  the  art 
of  printing,  whose  utility  is  perfectly  clear  and  obvious, 
Jiave  met  with  this  fate.  But  how  can  it  be  shown 
that  this  must  always  be  the  case  ?    From  what  principles 


196  Christ's  PLAN  PROVES  HTM 

does  it  follow,  that  the  individual  classes  of  which  the 
human  race  is  composed,  will  never  come  nearer  togeth- 
er, nor  present  their  hands  to  each  other  in  friendship, 
and  by  degrees  learn  to  share  in  common  what  each  one 
has  that  is  good  and  excellent  ?  It  is  evident  that  for 
several  centuries  past,  the  human  race  have  been  making 
gradual  and  rapid  advances  towards  so  wished  for  a 
change.  Countries  have  been  sought  after  and  discover- 
ed, in  which  were  found  many  nations  living  distinct  and 
separate  from  us.  Navigation  and  commerce  have  brought 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth  into  a  very  close  and  de- 
sirable connexion  with  each  other,  and  procured  an  intro- 
duction for  the  light  of  our  knowledge,  arts,  sciences,  and 
inventions,  into  those  regions  whose  miserable  and  savage 
inhabitants  were  covered  with  thick  darkness.  Who  pos- 
sesses such  a  clear  view  of  the  future  as  to  be  able  to 
say  that  the  human  race  will  again  lose  sight  of  their 
interests,  forget  their  arts  and  knowledge,  and  sink 
down  into  that  state  of  stupid  inactivity  and  indifference, 
in  which  each  nation,  unconcerned  for  others,  merely 
maintains  its  own  place,  and,  robbed  of  the  happiness 
which  it  might  have  derived  from  foreign  intercourse, 
leads  a  miserable  existence  ?  Can  this  be  the  inten- 
tion of  a  wise  Providence,  who,  according  to  unquestion- 
able, historical  testimony,  has  hitherto  led  the  human  race 
on  to  increasing  degrees  of  perfection,  and  for  their  ad- 
vantage in  this  respect,  sought  to  bring  them  into  a  close 
and  heartfelt  connexion  with  each  other  ?  Can  he  be  so 
cruel  as  to  put  the  youth,  hitherto  so  carefully  educated, 
back  again  into  the  imperfect  years  of  childhood  ?  Do 
present  circumstances  authorize  us  even  to  conjecture 
that  a  change  is  to  take  place  so  prejudicial  to  mankind  ? 
On  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  probable,  that  the  nations  of 
the  earth  will  continue  to  approximate  together  in  friend- 
ship, and,  taught  by  so  much  experience,  ultimately 
learn,  that  the  promotion  of  the  general  good,  and  the 
happy  growth  of  every  genuine  perfection,  depend  very 
much  indeed  upon  this  universal  connexion  ?  Does  not  the 
energetic  earnestness  with  which  a  muhiplication  and  ex- 


EXTRAORDINRY  AND  DIVINE.  197 

tension  of  commercial  associations,  a  free  navigation  of 
all  seas,  and  a  recognition  of  rights,  which  must  be  con- 
ceded even  to  those  nations  far  below  us,  are  now  every- 
where urged,  furnish  us  with  the  agreeable  hope,  that  the 
obstacles  to  a  universal  connexion,  are  gradually  diminish- 
ing, and  the  bands  of  friendship  and  good  dispositions  and 
feelings  by  which  the  human  race  are  to  be  cemented  to- 
gether, are  increasing  in  number,  texture  and  strength  ?* 
The  efforts  which  have  hitherto  been  made  by  European 
nations,  to  obtain  more  accurate  information  of  all  parts 
and  regions  of  the  earth  and  to  form  connexions  with 
their  inhabitants,  have  not  only  been  productive  of  many 
advantages,  but,  which  is  of  far  more  importance,  by  the 
enjoyment  of  foreign  goods,  the  natural  result  of  this  en- 
larged acquaintance,  every  where  given  rise  to  a  multi- 
tude of  new  wants  of  which  people  were  before  entirely 
ignorant.  Is  it  not  perfectly  evident  that  in  this  way  the 
nations  of  the  earth  are  daily  becoming  more  indispensa- 
ble to  each  other ;  that  they  see  it  more  and  more  neces- 
sary to  continue  the  intercourse  which  has  once  been  com- 
menced, in  order  to  prevent  the  cessation  of  that  ex- 
change of  goods  upon  which  even  now,  so  much  of  their 
happiness  depends  ;  that  hence,  they  contemplate  extend- 
ing their  inquiries  still  farther,  making  themselves  accu- 
rately acquainted  with  every  corner  of  the  earth,  drawing 
the  other  masses  of  men  still  distinct  from  each  other, 
into  these  general  connexions,  and,  by  means  of  a  band 
of  friendship  which  shall  comprehend  all,  forming  them 
into  one  great  and  happy  whole  ?  Grant,  however,  that  all 
this  cannot  be  anticipated,  yet  unquestionably,  no  one, 
unless  he  is  acquainted  with  the  future,  or  has  received 
from  the  Deity  himself,  information  of  his  divine  plan  for 
regulating  the  destinies  of  the  human  race,  is  competent 

*  [Hess  has  remarked  that  it  seems  to  be  the  intention  of  Provi- 
dence to  advance  mutual  intercourse  between  nations  in  our  day, 
by  the  extension  of  the  Bible,  and  to  transform  their  politico-mer- 
cantile connexion,  into  a  moral-religious  one  ;  Das  Vorseljungsvolle 
der  immer  weitern  Bibel-verbreitung  in  unsern  Tagen,  S.  91  fF. 
ZUrch,  1817.] 

17* 


198 

to  declare  it  impossiWe  for  the  nations  to  be  thrown  into 
those  circumstances  and  those  relations  to  each  other,  by 
which  a  benevolent  plan  may  obtain  universal  influence 
and  extend  its  blessings  over  the  world. 

In  what  other  way  it  can  be  shown  that  the  idea  of 
projecting  a  plan  for  the  good  of  all,  is  a  chimera  and  a 
contradiction  in  terms,  I  know  not.  No  one  will  say, 
that  nothing  can  be  so  universally  good  and  useful,  as  not 
in  all  times  and  under  all  climates,  to  increase  human 
perfection.  To  assert  this,  is  to  assume  that  human  na- 
ture is  not  always  and  every  where  perfectly  the  same,  and 
has  not  the  same  destination ;  and  consequently,  that  there 
are  not  general  wants  and  general  blessings.  If,  however, 
man  is  ever  the  same, — if  he  is  possessed  of  essentially  the 
the  same  powers  and  talents,  and  subjected  to  essentially 
the  same  wants,  duties,  and  laws  of  operation,  whether 
he  lives  in  Canada,  Otaheite,  Greenland,  or  Japan  ;  then 
there  must  be  propositions  and  regulations  adapted  to 
him  in  all  circumstances,  and  capable  of  rendering 
him  wiser,  more  peaceful,  and  better.  If  then  there  is  a 
plan  of  such  a  character,  that  its  execution  would  be  at 
all  times  and  places,  advantageous  to  human  nature,  there 
is  no  need  of  declaring  it  absolutely  impossible  for  it  ever 
to  become  thus  useful  in  its  results,  provided  it  be  con- 
ceived of  with  the  above  definitions  and  limitations. 

Now  the  founder  of  Christianity  actually  conceived  of 
his  general  plan  with  these  definitions  and  limitations. 
He  never  said  that  every  individual  of  the  human  race 
should  be  immediately  improved  and  rendered  happy. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  asserted  that  noxious  weeds  should 
remain  until  harvest,  Matt.  1 3:  24 — 30.  He  has  indeed 
delineated  a  plan,  which  is  adapted  to  human  nature,  and 
may  be  rendered  useful  to  all,  but  at  the  same  time  he  has 
conceded,  that  its  salutary  effects  would  be  visible  only  to 
mankind  in  general ;  and  that  there  would  always  be  many 
individuals  left,  who  from  their  own  fault  would  be  unable 
to  perceive  what  related  to  their  own  real  good.  In  so 
doing,  he  has  intimated  with  sufficient  plainness,  that  the 
execution  of  his  plan  would  advance  but  slowly,  and  be 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  199 

connected  with  many  difficulties.  He  did  not  consider 
his  great  work  as  an  easy  affair.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
very  often  spoke  of  the  great  obstacles  which  it  would 
meet  with,  and  so  perfect  was  his  knowledge  in  this  re- 
spect, that  he  foretold  them  to  his  friends  in  the  clearest 
and  most  ingenuous  manner. 

And,  indeed,  how  was  it  possible  for  him  not  to  fore- 
see the  great  difficulties  which  must  be  encountered  in 
the  performance  of  such  an  undertaking,  when  neither 
public  nor  private  power,  artful  and  mysterious  alliances^ 
nor  any  other  unlawful  means,  were  to  b&  resorted  to  for 
its  accomplishment, — ^when  he  so  recognised  and  re- 
spected the  laws  of  reason,  and  the  moral  nature  of  man, 
that  he  would  not  permit  those  who  wished  to  advocate 
his  cause,  to  make  use  of  any  thing  but  appropriate  in- 
struction for  its  advancement  ?  So  thoroughly  convinced, 
however,  was  he,  of  the  excellency  of  his  views  and  of  their 
agreement  with  the  counsels  of  God,  that  he  could  assert 
with  perfect  confidence,  that  his  cause  would  stand  so 
long  as  the  human  race  existed.  This  renders  it  clear, 
that  the  space  of  time  which  was  to  be  occupied  in  the 
gradual  execution  of  his  plan,  was  the  series  of  centuries 
that  should  constitute  the  duration  of  the  human  family. 
Now,  as  the  idea  of  operating  fop  the  good  of  all  by  means 
of  a  benevolent  plan,  in  itself  considered,  and  with  the 
above  limitations,  contains  nothing  impossible  ;  so  neither 
will  the  extent  of  Christ's  plan  authorize  us  to  declare  it 
a  chimera. 

§91.  If,  however,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said,  it  is  to  be  classed  among  impracticable  dreams,  it 
must  be,  because  it  is  concerned  with  a  universal  religion, 
and  it  was  Christ's  intention  to  lead  the  human  race  on 
to  the  attainment  of  harmonious  notions  and  convictions 
respecting  the  relation  in  which  they  stand  to  God  and 
the  honor  due  to  him.  We  must  proceed,  therefore,  to 
inquire,  whether  the  idea  in  particular,  of  establishing  a 
universal  religion,  contains  any  thing  impossible,  and 
whether  all  efforts  made  for  the  purpose,  must  of  neces- 
sity remain  ^fruitless. 


soo 

Here  also  every  thing  is  reduced  to  the  construction  of 
the  plan  itself,  and  the  object  contemplated  in  its  forma- 
tion. Should  any  one  attempt  to  urge  upon  mankind  at 
large,  a  religion  fixed  by  caprice,  burdened  with  numer- 
ous observances,  and  destitute  of  every  thing  of  a  moral 
character,  he  would  indeed  venture  upon  something  alto- 
gether impracticable.  Such  a  religion  would  have  no 
foundation  in  the  nature  of  man.  All  its  ordinances, 
therefore,  w^ould  be  called  in  question  by  reason  with  the 
greatest  success,  and  be  opposed  by  neglected,  and  per- 
haps even  offended,  moral  feeling.  It  would  every  where 
meet  with  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  difference  of  coun- 
tries, the  variety  of  their  national  wants,  and  the  constant 
changes  taking  place  in  the  constitution  of  civil  society. 
Such  a  religion,  although  there  have  already  been  many 
of  this  kind,  has  never  yet  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
universal  influence. 

Equally  in  vain  would  be  the  exertions  of  the  man, 
who  should  make  it  his  object  to  extend  an  artificial  re- 
ligion every  where,  and  bind  all  men  to  its  notions  and 
modes  of  representation,  however  agreeable  the  substance 
of  it  might  be  to  human  nature  and  its  relations  to  God. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  mankind  would  be  unable  to 
comprehend  such  instruction,  presupposing,  as  it  does,  an 
acuteness  and  exercise  of  thought,  which  the  multitude 
neither  possess  nor  are  able  to  acquire ;  and  to  those  who 
actually  think,  tlie  constraint  thus  imposed  upon  them, 
would  be  intolerable.  Human  reason  is  incessantly  en- 
gaged in  putting  down  the  systems  in  existence,  of 
whatever  kind  ♦they  may  be,  and  erecting  new  ones  in 
their  stead  ;  and  yet  not  one  of  them,  however  firm  it 
appeared  to  be  at  first,  has  been  able  to  obtain  ,an  autho- 
rity of  long  duration,  much  less  of  general  and  universal 
extent. 

Moreover,  should  any  person  make  a  religion  the  foun- 
dation of  political  institutions,  and  endeavor  to  establish 
a  state  comprehending  all  nations,  a  theocracy  extending 
over  the  whole  human  family,  he  would  also  meet  with 
opposition  from  reason,  which  considers  religion  as  a  thing 


EXTRAORDINABY  AND  DIVINE.  301 

of  the  heart,  and  requires  it  to  be  kept  entirely  distinct 
from  all  political  affairs.  He  would  be  obliged  to  con- 
tend with  the  innumerable  regulations  which  the  nations 
of  the  earth  have  formed  for  themselves,  and  will  never 
suffer  to  be  totally  abolished.  He  would  be  obliged  to 
contend  with  the  immutable  wants  of  nations  which 
gave  rise  to  the  peculiarities  of  their  political  constitu- 
tions, and  over  such  obstacles  he  would  never  obtain  the 
victory.  It  is  thus  rendered  self-evident  that  the  plan  of 
being  useful  to  all  mankind  by  means  of  a  religion,  must 
be  conceived  of  with  the  limitations  and  exceptions  pe- 
culiar to  every  ideal  plan.  It  is  calculated  for  all  individ- 
uals, and  may  be  rendered  salutary  to  all,  though,  on  ac- 
count of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  execution,  it  is 
not  in  reality.  It  gradually  approximates  towards  per- 
fection, though  in  many  respects  it  remains  short  of  that 
perfection  with  which  it  must  have  been  conceived. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  if  a  religion  im- 
proves the  condition  of  the  human  race  upon  the  whole, 
even  those  gain  thereby  who  are  not  immediately  subject 
to  it ;  so  that  its  influence  in  reality  becomes  as  gener- 
al as  can  justly  be  required, 

§  92.  With  these  preliminary  remarks  before  us,  it  is 
easy  to  pitch  upon  the  qualities  of  a  religion,  which  shall 
be  capable  of  becoming  the  religion  of  the  whole  human 
family.  It  must  be  moral,  intelligible,  and  spiritual ; 
jnoral,  to  be  adapted  to  human  nature ;  intelligible,  to 
be  adapted  to  the  multitude  ;  and  spiritual,  to  be  adapted 
to  all  countries  and  civil  constitutions. 

A  religion  is  moral,  when  every  part  of  it  has  refer- 
ence to  the  advancement  of  genuine  improvement  and 
virtue.  In  such  a  case,  all  its  doctrines  respecting  God 
and  his  relations  to  us,  must  be  of  such  a  character  as  to 
agree  perfectly  with  the  moral  law,  and  facilitate  obedi- 
ence to  it.  It  must  also  shed  a  light!  upon  ethics,  which 
shall  add  to  their  clearness,  and  render  their  sanctity  and 
strictness  more  intuitive.  Finally,  it  must  either  pre- 
scribe no  external  rites  and  ceremonies,  or  only  those 
whose  moral  and  improving  efficacy  is  placed  beyond  all 


202 

doubt.  If  a  religion  possesses  this  character,  it  is  fitted 
by  its  nature  to  become  universal,  and  connected  with 
that  in  man,  which  is  the  most  lasting  and  unchangeable  ; 
— with  that,  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  various  modes  of 
thinking  and  the  difference  of  external  circumstances, 
ever  remains  the  same, — with  nothing  less  than  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  morality.  It  then  stands  in  a  firni 
and  indissoluble  union  with  the  conscience,  that  power  of 
human  nature  to  which  it  most  certainly  belongs,  and 
which,  operating  as  it  does,  with  extraordinary  force,  can 
never  be  entirely  deprived  of  sensibility.  Then  religion 
lends  human  nature  that  help  which  she  always  needs, 
and  which  she  looks  anxiously  around  herself  to  find. 
Then  religion  furnishes  human  nature  with  strength  for 
the  combat  with  the  inclinations  of  the  heart.  Finally, 
it  then  exerts  so  evident  and  salutary  an  influence 
upon  every  thing  that  is  dear  and  venerable  to  man, 
and  worth  his  anxious  efforts  to  possess, — so  evident 
and  salutary  an  influence,  in  animating  and  ennobling  him, 
promoting  his  welfare,  regulating  his  social  relations,  and 
improving  his  entire  condition,  that  one  needs  only  to 
form  an  acquaintance  with  it  to  feel  its  divinity  and  love 
it.  It  is  not  a  cause  of  wonder,  that  no  religion  of  the 
earth  has  yet  become  the  religion  of  the  whole  human 
family.  None  that  has  ever  prevailed  among  men,  has, 
in  this  sense  ever  possessed  a  moral  character.  Whether 
the  Christian  religion  does,  is  to  be  a  subject  of  inquiry 
hereafter. 

A  religion  that  lays  claim  to  universal  dominion  over 
the  hearts  of  men,  must  also  be  intelligible  in  matter 
and  form.  In  regard  to  matter,  it  must  contain  a 
short  summary  of  those  truths  of  general  utility,  which 
the  very  weakest  intellects  are  able  to  receive,  and  which 
can  be  delivered  and  represented  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
be  obvious  even  to  children.  As  in  a  universal  religion, 
more  depends  upon  doing  than  thinking,  its  essential 
truths  must  contain  nothing  that  fosters  idleness  or  is  a 
subject  of  reflection  merely,  or  a  problem  for  scrutinizing 
reason  to  solve.     Every  doctrine  that  it  inculcates  m"st 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  203 

be  intelligible,  adapted  to  impress  the  heart,  and  practica* 
ble  in  life.  Hence  it  follows,  that  while  it  is  capable  of 
receiving  a  systematic  form,  it  must  be  in  no  respects  in- 
capable of  becoming  active  and  useful.  The  truths  of 
which  it  is  composed,  must  indeed  admit  of  being  work- 
ed over  by  philosophizing  reason,  farther  developed,  re- 
duced to  general  principles,  and  brought  into  a  scientific 
connexion  with  each  other ;  for  otherwise  it  would  not 
satisfy  those  who  are  under  too  great  a  necessity  to  think 
and  investigate  not  to  be  gratified  in  this  respect  in  every 
thing,  and  of  course  even  in  religion.  The  original  and 
ordinary  form  of  a  universal  religion,  however,  must  be 
characterized  by  a  natural  intelligibility,  and  possess  a 
clearness  and  simplicity,  which  shall  render  it  easy  to 
survey  and  apply  every  thing  that  belongs  to  it.  This  in- 
telligibility must  be  exhibited  also  in  its  proofs.  They 
must  he  so  near  to  ordinary  intellects  and  common  sense 
as  to  be  as  it  were  self-evident,  among  the  most  distin- 
guished of  which  must  be  reckoned  the  authority  of  God, 
derived  from  revelation.  With  this  authority  the  multi- 
tude at  large  can  by  no  means  dispense.  They  are  una- 
ble to  receive  any  assistance  from  the  controversies  carri- 
ed on  by  philosophers  respecting  subjects  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  mankind,  or  to  form  an  opinion  of  these 
dissentions.  They  are  unable  even  to  solve  the  doubts 
that  arise  in  their  own  minds,  and  therefore,  must  have 
the  declarations  and  decisions  of  God  to  lead  them  to 
the  truth,  and  in  all  cases  furnish  them  with  pacifying 
security.  Indeed,  there  are  moments,  as  is  well  known, 
in  which  the  most  acute  thinkers  welcome  this  guidance, 
and  anxiously  desire  the  aid  of  this  higher  decision.  A 
religion,  which  is  to  become  a  universal  religion,  must 
therefore  possess  the  form  of  a  revelation,  and  embody 
the  substance  of  rational  religion.*    While  it  has  the  tes- 

*  [This  is  by  no  means  a  contradiction  to  what  is  said,  p.  107,  and 
to  the  otherwise  well  known  convictions  of  the  author.  He  only  re- 
quires this  religion  to  contain  nothing  opposed  to  settled,  and  univer- 
sally valid  principles,  and  even  positive  dogmas  to  have  certain 
points  from  which  their  internal  truth  and  practical  importance  shall 


204 

tiraony  of  God  in  its  favor,  it  must  be  confirmed  by  the 
principles  of  reason.  It  must  rest  upon  matters  of  fact, 
but  not  as  if  it  were  altogether  dependent  upon  them. 

This  brings  us  to  the  third  quality  by  which  such  a 
religion  must  be  distinguished  ;  it  must  be  spiritual.  It 
is  so,  either  when  it  is  entirely  free  from  external  rites 
and  exercises,  and  a  matter  solely  of  the  intellect  and 
heart ;  or  when  it  enjoins  only  those  ceremonies  and  reg- 
ulations, which  can  be  observed  by  all  nations,  and  yet  do 
not  naturally  belong  to  this  religion  itself.  A  religion  is 
local,  and  consequently  incapable  of  being  domesticated 
in  every  country,  in  exact  proportion  as  it  enjoins  a 
multiplicity  of  ceremonies  and  observances.  These  usu- 
ally presuppose  an  external  state  of  things  which  can 
easily  be  produced  ,  where  the  founder  of  the  religion  re- 
sides, but  cannot  be  met  with  in  other  places,  nor  brought 
about  without  encountering  the  greatest  difficulties.  A 
religion  burdened  with  such  precepts  is  extremely  unpli- 
ant.  By  the  claims  which  it  makes,  it  disturbs  external 
relations,  and  consequently,  on  being  introduced  among 
foreign  nations,  interferes  with  their  established  constitu- 
tions and  order  of  things.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  im- 
possible to  see  what  objections  can  be  made  to  the  uni- 
versal extension  of  a  spiritual  religion.  It  is  entirely  des- 
titute of  all  those  ornaments,  with  which  rites  and  cere- 
monies addressed  to  the  senses  are  adorned,  and  altogeth- 
er a  matter  of  the  heart.  Its  interests,  therefore,  cannot 
be  affected  by  external  circumstances.  It  may  take  firm 
possession  of  every  place  where  there  are  human  beings. 
It  has  its  own  external  regulations  indeed,  but  such  as  are 
easily  accommodated  to  every  civil  constitution,  and  pre- 
suppose nothing,  not  to  be  met  with  every  where,  and  it 
has  nothing  in  itself  that  renders  it  incapable  of  a  general 
reception.  Whenever  these  regulations  cease  to  be  es- 
sential, as  well  as  in  case  of  necessity,  they  can  be  dis- 

become  evident.  Upon  this  subject,  examine  Stlsskind,  Ueber  das 
Recht  der  Vernunft  in  Ansehung  der  negativen  Bestimmung  des 
Inhalts  einer  Offenbarung,  in  Flatt's  Magazin,  1.  89—193;  Rein- 
■      '      -  '  -    95ff.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  205 

pensed  with,  without  doing  prejudice  to  the  chief  matter 
itself. 

Hence  it  is  apparent,  that  the  plan  of  establishing  a 
universal  religion,  properly  contains  nothing  more  than  a 
resolve  to  bring  into  general  circulation  and  active  opera- 
tion among  mankind  at  large,  rational  information  respect- 
ing their  relation  to  God,  clothed  with  his  authority  and 
composed  of  the  revelations  of  his  will.  Such  a  plan, 
therefore,  may  be  carried  into  effect,  while  the  greatest 
difference  exists  between  external  religious  constitutions, 
and  the  various  exercises  introduced  into  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God.  The  form  and  regulation  of  these  exer- 
cises and  institutions  may  indeed  be  more  or  less  agree- 
able to  the  nature  of  this  religion,  but  they  do  not*  proper- 
ly belong  to  it.  Such  a  plan  is  not  opposed  by  the  divi- 
sion of  the  followers  of  this  religion  into  various  parties  and 
sects.  It  is  concerned  merely  with  the  extension  of  the 
truths  which  express  the  relations  existing  between  God 
and  man.  That  the  human  mind  will  not  leave  these 
fundamental  doctrines  in  their  original  simplicity ;  that  it 
will  reflect  farther  upon  them,  and  undertake  to  perfect 
them  and  bring  them  into  a  scientific  form  ;  that  it  will  be 
unable  to  refrain  from  making  numerous  inquiries  and  en- 
deavoring to  define  many  things  which  lie  entirely  be- 
yond its  grasp,  and  connecting  its  own  opinions,  preju- 
dices, and  dreams  with  these  principal  truths ;  that  it  will 
attempt  to  create  them  out  of  itself  and  transform  them 
into  the  pure  and  independent  expressions  of  its  own  rea- 
son ;  that  hence,  will  arise  a  multitude  of  digressive  rep- 
resentations and  systems  of  religious  doctrines,  and  con- 
sequently, various  parties,  churches,  and  sects  ; — all  this, 
every  one  who  resolves  to  make  mankind  acquainted  with 
one  religion  in  common,  admits  as  well  known  and  some- 
thing, which,  as  human  nature  is  constituted,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  avoid.  If  the  principal  truths  only  remain,  upon 
which  in  this  case  every  thing  depends, — if  they  only  re- 
main, and  exert  a  salutary  influence  upon  the  greatest 
part  of  mankind,  then  the  object  of  the  plan  is  accom- 
plished. 

18 


206 

Now  what  would  a  plan  of  this  character  and  with 
these  definitions,  contain  that  is  impracticable  ?  In  what 
respects  would  it  be  opposed  to  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind,  and  to  the  course  of  human  affairs  ?  If,  as  has 
been  shown,  the  idea  of  forming  a  universal  connexion 
between  mankind,  is  not  a  senseless  and  impracticable 
thing,  then  there  is  nothing  contradictory  in  the  sup- 
position, that  a  small  number  of  doctrines,  respecting 
God,  and  his  relation  to  us,  and  calculated  for  our  wel- 
fare and  improvement,  should  gradually  find  introduction 
every  where,  and  attain  to  universal  influence,  notwith- 
standing the  difference  in  the  modes  of  thinking  and  judg- 
ing in  other  respects,  and  all  the  changes  that  take  place 
in  civil  constitutions,  and  in  regulations  pertaining  to  the 
service  of  religion.  Such  an  influence  is  so  much  the 
more  conceivable  in  proportion  as  these  truths  agree  with 
the  moral  nature  of  man.  To  the  same  degree  also  do 
they  become  apparent  to  human  reason,  and  by  their 
clearness  and  force,  take  hold  of  the  multitude  at  large  ; 
and  finally,  so  much  the  more  visible  is  their  adaptation, 
under  all  circumstances  to  improve  and  calm  the  human 
heart. 

93.  If,  however,  the  idea  of  connecting  the  human  race 
together  by  means  of  a  universal  religion,  is  not  a  fanciful, 
,and  in  itself  considered,  an  impracticable  one,  then  the 
plan  of  the  founder  of  Christianity  which  has  been  de- 
scribed, should  be  declared  a  vain  enterprise,  only  because 
his  religion  was  not  adapted  for  general  extension.  We 
must,  therefore,  in  the  next  place,  clear  up  this  point. 

With  the  qualities  requisite  for  a  universal  religion,  we 
are  already  acquainted.  It  must  be  moral,  intelligible, 
and  spiritual.  No  religion  on  earth  possesses  these  qual- 
ities so  unquestionably  and  in  so  high  a  degree,  as  the 
Christian,  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  founder  and 
friends.  This  can  be  shown  very  clearly  from  what  was 
said  upon  the  subject  in  the  first  part. 

The  great  object  which  Jesus  had  before  him,  was,  as 
has  been  shown,  to  form  a  new  moral  creation,  to  animate 
all  mankind  with  new  life,  and  lead  them  on  to  the  attain- 


,     EXTRAORDINARY  AND    DIVINE.  207 

ment  of  true  moral  dignity  and  happiness.  The  means 
by  which  this  was  to  be  accomplished,  was  the  religion 
which  he  intended  to  spread  over  the  world  and  impart  to 
the  whole  human  family.  He  must  have  had  a  poor 
knowledge  of  himself  and  what  he  had  in  view,  to  have 
thought  of  operating  by  aAy  other  means,  than  that  of  a 
religion  in  every  respect  moral,  and  calculated  for  the  im- 
provement and  exaltation  of  human  nature.  It  is  necessa- 
ry only  to  call  to  mind  what  has  been  said  respecting  the 
matter  of  his  instruction,  in  order  to  discover  the  moral 
adaptation  of  every  thing  that  he  delivered.  He  labored 
to  abolish  a  pernicious  superstition,  destroy  an  unbelief 
equally  prejudicial  to  morality,  and  suppress  a  skepticism, 
which  called  every  thing  in  question,  even  the  principles  of 
morality  itself.  The  view  of  God,  therefore,  which  he 
laid  at  the  foundation  of  his  system,  was  of  a  moral 
character,  and  represented  him  as  the  supreme  Father, 
loving  and  educating  mankind  as  his  children.  The  con- 
sequences that  flow  from  this  fundamental  view,  are  also 
moral.  A  man  cannot  honor  this  supreme  Father  by 
ceremonies  and  external  exercises,  but  only  by  doing  his 
will  and  endeavoring  to  become  like  him.  With  a  relig- 
ious truth  that  represents  God  as  the  supreme  Father, 
no  moral  truths  can  be  connected  but  such  as  reduce 
every  thing  back  to  love.  The  practical  part  of  what 
Jesus  taught,  therefore,  had  the  great  excellency  of 
containing  principles,  not  only  benevolent,  but  pure, 
noble,  and  exalted,  every  where  applicable,  and  adapt- 
ed to  human  nature.  He  who  loves  God  and  man 
according  to  the  precepts  of  Jesus,  is  a  most  willing, 
punctual,  and  disinterested  performer  of  all  his  duties ; 
a  most  active  promoter  of  all  that  is  true,  beautiful, 
and  good  ;  a  most  faithful  and  useful  citizen  of  the 
state  to  which  he  belongs ;  a  most  sympathizing  and 
benevolent  friend  of  man,  and,  in  all  the  relations  which 
he  sustains,  whatever  they  are  called,  the  author  of  in- 
numerable blessings.  Nor  did  the  external  part  of  the 
religion  which  Jesus  intended  to  bring  into  vogue,  have 
any  other  object   in  view  than   strengthening  its  moral 


I 


208 

power,  and  sustaining  its  activity.  In  order  to  preserve  a 
lasting  consciousness  of  their  high  calling  and  their  desti- 
nation in  respect  to  moral  attainments,  and  to  be  perfect 
as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  his  followers  were  to 
meet  together  and  unite  as  a  body  in  pious  exercises ;  the 
object  of  these  meetings  was  to  be  their  advancement  in 
virtue  and  religious  improvement.     And  for  what  other 

Surpose,  than  as  the  means  of  moral  improvement,  did 
esus  institute  his  two  sacred  rites  ?  The  one  was  to 
make  it  evident,  that  as  soon  as  a  man  becomes  a  Chris- 
tian, he  takes  upon  himself  an  obligation  to  practise  the  pur- 
est and  most  immaculate  virtue ;  the  other  was  to  admonish 
him  of  this  with  reference  to  his  approximating  nearer  to 
the  pattern  of  all  human  virtue  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties.*  The  religion,  therefore,  which  Jesus  destined  to 
become  that  of  the  human  race,  was,  in  all  its  parts,  a  moral 
religion.  On  this  very  account,  however,  it  has  such  a  close 
and  necessary  relation  to  every  thing  which  man,  as  he  is 
constituted,  either  is,  or  is  to  become,  that  its  principles 
must  be  appropriate  and  valid,  whatever  be  the  circum- 
stances of  time  or  place.  Christianity  will  not  lose  its 
universally  practicable  character,  until  man  ceases  to  be  a 
moral  being,  capable  and  in  need  of  improvement.  The 
first  and  principal  requisite  to  adapt  a  religion  for  becom- 
ing universal,  is  found  in  it  to  a  degree  not  to  be  met  with 
in  any  other  religion. 

The  same  is  true  also  of  the  second.  Christianity  has 
all  the  intelligibleness  necessary  to  procure  for  it  a  univer- 
sal introduction  among  mankind.  The  system  which  Je- 
sus delivered  was  not  an  artificial  one,  hard  to  be  under- 
stood. The  main  doctrines  of  the  religion  which  he 
taught  are  so  clear  and  obvious,  that  even  children  can 
comprehend  them.  They  consist  purely  of  truths  which 
lie  so  near  to  reason  and  moral  feeling,  that  one  needs 

*  [Baptism  represents  the  object  of  the  Christian  religion  and  the 
church,  which  is  sanctification.  The  society  into  which  a  man  is 
admitted  is  to  be  a  pure  church.  The  sacrament,  on  the  other  hand, 
represents  the  means,  a  common  participation  of  Christ,  and  a  fra- 
ternization through  him.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  209 

only  to  have  his  attention  directed  to  them,  in  order  to- 
assent  to  tliem.  Jesus  delivered  them  with  such  a  clear- 
ness and  simplicity,  such  an  energy  and  power,  that 
they  commended  themselves  immediately  to  every  uncor- 
rupted  heart.  His  instructions  exhibited  none  of  those 
dialectical  subtilties,  deep  speculations,  and  prolix  demon- 
strations, which  abounded  in  the  systems  of  the  old  philos- 
ophers, and  rendered  them,  how  much  soever  good  they 
might  contain,  totally  unfit  for  the  multitude  at  large. 
The  most  important  truths,  which,  in  the  way  of  specula- 
tion and  by  the  greatest  efforts  of  philosophizing  reason, 
had  either  not  been  discovered  at  all,  or  but  imperfectly, 
were  represented  by  Jesus  with  such  a  lucid  and  touching; 
simplicity,  that  they  must  be  obvious  to  the  most  illit- 
erate, and  fill  the  most  acute  thinkers  with  admiration. 
At  the  same  time,  he  delivered  them  as  the  instructions 
and  expressions  of  God  himself,  and  thereby  clothed  them 
with  that  authority  every  where  and  to  the  highest  degree 
valid,  which  is  indispensable  to  the  great  mass  of  people^ 
and,  with  themj  holds  the  place  of  demonstration  and  the 
profound  est  proofs,  without  prohibiting  reason  however 
from  laboring  farther  upon  them,  and  endeavoring  to  de- 
duce them  from  principles  peculiar  to  itself  alone. 

It  is  well  known  that  reason  has  made  great  efforts  in 
this  respect,  and  done  it  in  various  ways.  Hence  origi- 
nated those  divisions  of  Christians  into  parties  and  sects, 
which  have  often  been  connected  with  such  sad  concus- 
sions of  whole  kingdoms.  This,  however,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  it  was  impossible  to  avoid.  If  Christianity 
was  to  be  adapted  to  all,  then  it  was  necessary  that  it 
should  attract  and  employ  thinkers  as  well  as  others. 
Then  it  was  necessary  that  its  matter  should  be  farther 
perfected  and  brought  into  a  scientific  form,  and  also  that 
the  human  mind  should  be  permitted  to  make  it  the  object 
of  close  investigation,  and,  even  in  this  respect,  gratify 
its  inclinations  by  reducing  it  back  to  ultimate  principles. 
If,  while  mankind  were  engaged  in  this  business,  they 
had  adhered  w^ith  inviolable  fidelity  to  the  great  com- 
mandment of  Christianity  which  enjoins  love,  it  would 
18* 


210     , 

never  have  done  any  hurt.  For  of  what  consequence  is 
it,  if  men  do  erect  various  buildings  upon  the  noble  and 
simple  foundation  which  originated  with  Jesus,  and  Chris- 
tians divide  themselves  into  numerous  families,  each  of 
which  dwells  in  its  own  house  ?  Will  this  frustrate  the 
object  which  Jesus  had  in  view  ?  Do  they  not  all  stand 
ultimately  upon  the  same  ground  ?  True,  the  various 
buildings  erected  by  Christians  upon  this  foundation  must 
differ  greatly  in  firmness,  utility,  and  goodness ;  but  can- 
not these  parties,  notwithstanding  this,  live  peaceably  to- 
gether, each  one  in  the  house  which  it  deems  the  most 
convenient  ?  Shall  I  hate  my  neighbour,  my  brother,  or 
persecute  him,  because  he  does  not  live  in  the  same  house 
with  myself,  and  finds  a  better  one  ?  And  admit  his  to 
be  in  reality  worse ;  why  shall  I  disturb  him,  when  he  can- 
not be  convinced  of  it,  and  his  own  house  appears  to  him 
good  afld  commodious  ?  In  this  case,  he  deserves  neither 
my  pity  nor  my  hatred.  It  is  enough.,  that  his  building 
rests  upon  the  same  firm  and  lasting  foundation  as  mine. 
Without  images — Christianity  has  the  simplicity,  intelli- 
gibleness,  and  brevity,  which  a  rehgion  must  have,  in  or- 
der to  become  universal.  It  has  not  been  left  indeed  in 
the  simplicity,  with  which  it  was  delivered  by  its  founder. 
Men  have  cultivated  it,  and  in  doing  so,  separated  them- 
selves into  sects,  but  it  has  lost  nothing  thereby.  The 
principal  truths  have  indeed  been  more  or  less  disfigured 
in  the  different  systems  of  Christians,  but  they  are  still 
every  where  to  be  met  with  as  taught  by  Jesus  and  his 
friends.  The  Christian  religion,  therefore,  on  the  one 
hand,  retains  its  capacity  of  becoming  universal,  while  on 
the  other,  it  lays  no  constraints  upon  human  reason.  It 
consists  of  truths  which  the  human  mind  must  apprehend 
and  approve  of,  as  soon  as  they  have  been  exhibited  in  a 
proper  light ;  and  to  approve  of  such  truths,  and  be  in 
subjection  to  such  laws,  is  not  to  be  under  the  necessity 
of  wearing  chains.  Every  thing  else  is  left  to  each  one's 
own  judgement  and  conscience.  He  may  join  that  party 
in  which  these  truths  appear  to  be  met  with  in  the  great- 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  211 

est  purity,  or  he  may  join  none,*  and  only  adhere  firmly 
to  the  foundation.  No  one  will  presume  to  disturb  him 
in  the  use  of  this  freedom.  Constraint  and  power,  by 
whatever  names  they  are  called,  are  never  to  be  blended 
in  the  affairs  of  religion.  The  greatest  difference  in  opin- 
ions is  not  to  sever  that  band  of  fraternal  love  by  which 
all  the  admirers  and  followers  of  Jesus  are  connected  to- 
gether. Tn  this  love  all  are  to  be  reunited,  here  all  par- 
ties are  again  to  meet  together.  Hence,  this  love  is  to 
be  holy  to  them  and  inviolable.  +  It  was  through  its 
means  alone,  that  Jesus  intended  to  form  a  connexion  be- 
tween them,  and  not  by  effacing  all  sectarian  distinctions ; 
— a  thing  in  itself  impracticable.  He,  therefore,  who  is 
offended  because  Christians  are  divided  into  numerous 
parties,  and  who  labors  to  abolish  this  division  by  forming 
a  definite  system  of  notions,  with  which  all  sects  shall  be 
satisfied  ;  he  who  can  even  believe  it  possible,  and  if  so, 
useful,  by  the  influence  of  secret  associations,  to  bring  all 
imperceptibly  as  it  were,  to  unite  in  harmony, — he  compre- 
hends in  reality  but  very  little  of  the  great  wisdom  exhi- 
bited in  the  plan  of  Jesus.  His  imagination  is  heated 
with  an  empty  dream  which  is  not  adapted  to  human  na- 
ture, and  would  be  very  prejudicial  to  it,  could  it  be  real- 
ized. Let  us  not  draw  up  new  creeds,  therefore,  nor  es- 
tablish new  fraternities,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  all  seels 
together,  and  bringing  their  minds  to  embrace  the  same 
conceptions.  Would  you  command  the  intellect  of  mil- 
lions, to  cease  operating  and  following  its  own  thoughts  ? 
Would  you  take  away  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and 
rob  it  of  that  freedom,  which  it  derived  from  God,  and 
which  it  must  possess,  if  the  religion  which  it  embraces 
is  a  rational  one  ?     Let  us  learn  rather  what  that  means  : 

*  [The  author  says  the  same  thing  in  his  Sermon  on  the  Sunday 
of  Misericord.  Dora.,  1796,  Vollst.  Pred.  2te.  Aufl.  S.  134  ff.] 

t  [Very  fine  is  what  the  excellent  Turretin  says  in  his  Opuscula 
varii  argument!,  T.  J  I.  p.  21.  [In  the  Dilucidatt,  Philos.  Theolog. 
Vol.  I.  p.  318,  L.  B.  1748.]  "  Nesciunt  quid  sit  credere,  qui,  a  se 
dissentientibus,  irascuntur.  Misereri  errantium,  non  eos  odisse, 
decet — Optimum  controversiarum  compendium,  Amor  Dei  et  Prox- 
imi — " 


212  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

I  will. have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  in  order  that  we  may 
not  condemn  the  guiltless,  Matt.  12:  7.  "  He  who  un- 
derstands the  assertion  of  Jesus,"  says  Origen,*  "  Bless- 
ed are  the  peacemakers,  and  blessed  are  the  meek,  will  not 
hate  and  abominate  those  who  think  differently  respecting 
Christianity  from  himself."  It  remains  true,  therefore, 
that  Christianity  can  exist,  while  the  greatest  difference 
prevails  in  modes  of  thinking, — can  extend  its  blessings 
over  the  world,  and  render  every  one  happy  who  yields  it 
faithful  obedience.f 

And  this  it  can  do  so  much  the  more,  as  it  is  also  spir- 
itual, and  hence,  can  be  admitted  into  all  countries,  what- 
ever be  the  modifications  of  the  civil  constitution.  Jesus 
prescribed  only  two  ceremonies,  which  have  a  noble  sim- 
plicity and  can  be  observed  wherever  men  reside.  Eve- 
ry thing  else  was  left  both  by  Jesus  and  his  friends,  to 
the  judgement  and  conscience  of  those  who  might  em- 
brace this  religion.  His  apostles  indeed  laid  down  a  few 
regulations  respecting  the  public  worship  of  God,  but  in 
so  doing,  they  were  guided  by  the  circumstances  and  cus- 
toms of  the  age  ;  and  besides,  they  left  every  society  free 
to  change  them  according  to  its  necessities.  There  is 
nothing  said  of  sacred  places  or  stated  feasts,  of  pious 
journeys  and  pilgrimages,  of  troublesome  and  expensive 
ceremonies,  or  a  cautious  selection  of  food.  The  whole 
earth  is  God's  temple ;  in  every  place,  man  can  lift  up  holy 
hands ;  every  creature  of  God  is  clean  and  good,  and  noth- 
ing any  longer  to  be  rejected.  The  external  form  of  the 
exercises  of  this  religion  in  one  country,  may,  therefore,  be 
entirely  different  from  that  of  those  in  another.  The 
religion  itself  always  remains  the  same,  whatever  be  the 
drapery  with  which  it  is  invested.     There  will  indeed  be 

*  Contra  Cels.  1.  V.  p.  273.  [627,  de  la  Rue.] 

t  Respecting  the  accommodating  character  of  Christianity,  vid. 
(Brastberger)  Ueber  die  Mannigfaltigkeit  der  Religionsbegriffe,  in 
the  Versuche  Ober  Religion  und  Dogmatik,  I.  1  ff.,  especially 
S.74fF. ;  and  Pfenninger  Familie  von  Eden  1.  der  Christianer  von 
alien  und  von  keiner  Parthey,  S.  21 — 34.  According  to  Klopstock, 
Messias,  XIII.  802  fF.  Christ  is  : 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  213 

an  important  difference  between  its  dresses.  In  every 
country,  they  will  have  that  color  which  the  nation  likes 
the  best ;  one  will  be  more  useful,  another  more  commo- 
dious, and  a  third  more  splendid,  than  the  rest.  If,  how- 
ever, they  do  not  entirely  disfigure  the  body,  nor  impede 
its  activity,  these  differences  are  matters  of  little  or  no 
importance.* 

And  what  can  hinder  this  religion  from  harmonizing 
with  every  state  constitution  ?f  It  has  nothing  immedi- 
ately to  do  with  political  affairs.  It  fashions  every  indi- 
vidual, and  produces  in  him  that  knowledge  and  those 
dispositions  and  feelings  which  enable  him  to  live  content- 
ed and  happy  in  any  place,  and  become  a  useful  citizen 
under  every  kind  of  civil  constitution,  and  a  faithful  sub- 
ject of  every  government.  It  does  not  according  to  the 
principles  of  its  author,  erect  one  state  within  another, 
does  not  in  any  case  disturb  the  public  tranquillity,  nor 
can  the  interest  of  the  church  ever  come  in  collision 
with  that  of  the  government.  On  the  other  hand,  that 
state,  whose  citizens  should  be  in  reality  formed  agreeably 
to  the  principles  of  Christianity,  would  unquestionably  be 

Jedem  ein  Andrer, 
Jedena  der  Eine,  den  wir  vor  Allen  am  innigsten  lieben, 
Jedem,  nach  seinem  Verlangen,  ein  unerschopflicher  Geber, 
Jedem  der  Beste  ;  der  Beste,  der  Liebenswdrdigste  Jedem  !] 
["  To  every  one  Christ  is  another  self;  to  every  one  according  to  his 
desire,  the  overflowing,  the  inexhaustible  source  of  good  !  to  each 
the  most  bounteous  !  to  all  the  most  deserving  of  their  love."     Coll- 
yer's  transl.,  XIII.  Vol.  II.  p.  166,  Boston,  1811.    Tr.] 

*  Frommana's  treatise,  De  religione  Christiana  omni  climati  ac- 
commodata,  in  the  Opuscula  philologici  et  historici  argumenti, 
Tom.  II.  p.  595seqq.,  where  some  other  reflections  are  brought  for- 
ward respecting  the  possibility  of  celebrating  the  sacraments  every 
where,  and  respecting  the  likewise  universal  practicability  of  the 
command  enjoined  by  Christianity  respecting  monogamy. 

t  "  Non  sine  foro,  non  sine  macello,  non  sine  balneis,  tabernis,  offi- 
cinis,  stabulis,  nundinis  vestris  ceterisque  commerciis  cohabitamas 
hoc  seculum  ;  nauigamus  et  nos  vobiscum,  et  militamus,  et  rustica- 
mur,  et  mercatus  proinde  miscemus;  artes,  operas  nostras  publica- 
mus  vsui  vestro  ;  quomodo  infructuosi  videamur  negotiis  vestriS, 
cum  quibns  et  de  quibus  viuimus,  non  scio."  Thus  spoke  Tertullian 
respecting  this  subject  to  the  Romans,  who  considered  Christianity 
as  inseparable  from  the  state  ;  in  Apologet.  c.  42.  p.  358,  Haverc.  ed. 


214 

the  happiest,  and  most  flourishing.  Its  rulers  would  have 
the  most  faithful,  obedient  and  active  subjects,  and  the 
state  itself  be  distinguished  for  an  order  which  would  need 
no  power  or  constraint  for  its  preservation.  In  it,  the  arts 
and  sciences  would  flourish,  without  being  abused  and 
made  the  means  of  poisoning  the  morals  of  the  people. 
In  it,  life  would  be  enjoyed  in  the  most  agreeable  and  tran- 
quil manner,  and  all  property  and  rights  be  perfectly  se- 
cured. No  state  would  be  more  firmly  connected  togeth- 
er, and  hence,  more  terrible  and  invincible  to  its  enemies.* 
For  even  this  last  circumstance,  how  much  soever  it 
has  been  doubted,  can  be  clearly  proved.  Those  are  al- 
together mistaken  who  pretend,  sometimes  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defending  it,t  at  others,  of  attacking  it,{  that 
Christianity  treates  bravery  and  heroism  as  vices  and 
transforms  man  into  a  defenceless  and  suffering  creature, 
which  chooses  to  endure  wrong  rather  than  defend  itself. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  religion  taught  by  Jesus  was 
calculated  in  all  its  parts  for  diminishing  the  causes  of 
war,  preventing  unjust  aggression  and  offence,  awakening 
every  where  a  lively  perception  of  what  is  right  and 
equitable,  and  gradually  bringing  about  a  universal  peace 
upon  earth.  It  is  equally  certain,  however,  that  the  com- 
mandment enjoining  love,  which  is  the  soul  of  all  the 
precepts  of  Christianity,  forbids  no  man  from  bravely  op- 
posing unjust  oppressors,  and  maintaining  his  rights  by 
force,  so  long  as  that  universal  peace  does  not  prevail,  and 
cruel  disturbers  of  public  security  and  repose,  and  unjust 
aggressors,  are  every  where  to  be  found.     Is  it  not  the 

*  To  this  place,  belongs  an  excellent  passage  taken  from  Justin's 
letter,  ad  Diognet.,  p.  235,236,  [ed.  Col.  p.  496  extr.-498}]  in 
which  the  possibility  of  Christianity's  harmonizing  with  every  po- 
litical relation  is  still  more  finely  expressed.  [Comp.  Neander'sK. 
G.  1. 1.  92.] 

t  Comp.  Jenning's  well  known  work,  entitled,  A  View  of  the  In- 
ternal Evidence  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  18  seqq.  andespec.  p. 
45  seqq,,  Manchest.  (Eng.,)  1799. 

t  Vid.  Rousseau  du  Contrat  social,  liv.  IV.  chap.  8.  p.  170,  Bip. 
cd.    [In  the  edition  of  bis  works  of  J792,  Tom.  II.  191  ff.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  215 

business  even  of  that  love,  whose  efforts  are  directed  en- 
tirely to  the  promotion  of  the  general  good,  magnani- 
mously to  offer  itself  in  sacrifice,  as  soon  as  this  general 
weal  is  in  danger  ?  Can  he  whom  it  animates,  remain 
idle,  when  the  society  of  which  he  is  a  member,  is  assail- 
ed and  threatened  with  danger  ?  Will  he  not,  on  the 
other  hand,  select,  and  be  obliged  to  select,  the  only  way 
left  him  in  this  case,  for  exhibiting  his  love,  namely,  by 
laying  down  his  life  for  the  brethren  ?  1  John  3:  16. 
Besides,  is  there  not  every  thing  to  be  met  with  in  the 
soul  of  a  genuine  Christian,  from  which  real  bravery  and 
rational  heroism  may  spring  in  as  good,  if  not  a  better 
degree  than  in  others  ?  Is  bravery  grounded  upon  natu- 
ral courage,  a  certain,  innate  intrepidity  ?  Christianity 
does  not  suppress  this  quality,  but  only  hinders  it  from 
degenerating  into  savageness  and  temerity.  Is  genuine 
bravery  accompanied  with  a  contempt  of  all  effeminacy, 
with  diligence  and  temperance  ?  Christianity  inculcates 
these  virtues  as  indispensable  duties.  Is  bravery  without 
a  desire  of  honor,  impossible  ?  No  one  can  possess  a 
livelier  and  more  tender  sense  of  honor  than  the  Chris- 
tian. Does  bravery  draw  its  nourishment  in  a  particular 
manner,  from  genuine  patriotism  ?  The  patriotism  pro- 
duced by  Christianity  is  the  noblest,  and  most  zealous 
that  can  exist.  Finally,  are  confidence  in  God  and  a  be- 
lief in  immortality  able  to  contribute  any  thing  towards 
strengthening  courage  in  danger  and  rendering  men  in- 
trepid ?  Then  no  one  has  less  to  fear  than  the  Christian. 
A  religion,  which,  with  the  tenderest  love,  combines  such 
an  aversion  to  all  injustice,  and  so  much  to  encourage  in 
the  hour  of  danger,  cannot  be  prejudicial  to  genuine 
bravery,  but  will  merely  hinder  it  from  degenerating  into 
savage  barbarity  and  inhuman  cruelty.  If,  therefore, 
Christianity  in  an/  state  produces  in  only  a  part  of  the 
citizens,  those  dispositions  and  feelings,  which  its  founder 
intended  it  should  produce,  even  then,  the  state,  whatever 
be  its  regulations  in  other  respects,  manifestly  loses  noth- 
ing thereby,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  gains  infinitely  in  the 
improvement  of  its  subjects. 


k 


216 

It  may  seem,  indeed,  as  if  Christianity  would  be  pre- 
judicial to  the  interests  of  states,  at  least  from  the  fact, 
that  it  always  directs  its  followers  to  another  life  and  the 
rewards  of  heaven,  and  exalts  them  as  it  were  above  the 
affairs  of  this  life,  as  contemptible  trifles.  This  is  an  ob- 
jection to  Christianity  which  one  would  expect  only  from 
such  an  acute  opponent  to  it  as  Lord  Shaftesbury  was. 
"  Private  friendship,  and  zeal  for  the  public  and  our 
own  country,^^  says  this  writer,  "  are  virtues  purely  volun- 
tary in  a  Christian.  They  are  no  essential  parts  of  his 
charity.  He  is  not  so  ty'd  to  the  affairs  of  this  life  ;  nor 
is  he  obliged  to  enter  into  such  engagements  with  this 
lower  world  as  are  of  no  help  to  him  in  acquiring  a  bet- 
ter. His  conversation  is  in  heaven.  Nor  has  he  occa- 
sion for  such  supernumerary  cares  or  embarrassments  here 
on  earth,  as  may  obstruct  his  way  thither,  or  retard  him 
in  the  careful  task  of  working  out  his  own  salvation."* 
Were  this  in  reality  the  spirit  of  Christianity  ;  did  it  de- 
prive its  followers  of  all  activity  for  this  life  and  transform 
them  into  idle  dreamers,  and  induce  them  to  lead  a  use- 
less and  contemplative  life  ;  then  it  would  not  only  be  un- 
adapted  to  the  civil  constitutions  of  the  human  race,  but  eve- 
ry state  would  be  obliged  as  a  matter  of  duty  to  prevent  the 
extension  of  such  pernicious  principles  as  far  as  possible. 
But  how  little  does  that  man  know  of  the  power  of 
Christian  philanthropy,  who  can  look  upon  private  friend- 
ship and  zeal  for  the  public,  as  far  as  it  is  concerned,  as 
superfluous  !  How  litde  must  he  be  acquainted  with  the 
life  of  Jesus,  not  to  know  that  Jesus  himself  was  a  most 
disinterested,  active,  and  tender  friend  !  John  11:  5,  35, 
36,  and  chap.  12:  1.  The  philanthropy  and  fraternal 
love  enjoined  by  Christianity,  consist  in  a  man's  not  being 
weary  in  well  doing  ;  and  its  principles  make  him  a  useless 
and  criminal  wretch,  who  leaves  unemployed  any  talent  in 
his  possession,  which  he  might  have  rendered  useful  to 

*  Characteristics  of  Men,  Manners,  Opinions,  Times,  Vol.  I, 
98 — 100,  1727.  Helvetius,  De  1'  homme,  Sect.  1.  chap.  9,  has  mere- 
ly repeated  these  objections  without  adding  any  thing  new. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  217 

the  world ;  aii^  will  such  a  philanthropy  quench  zeal  for 
the  public  ?  In  the  eyes  of  a  Christian,  every  man  is  of 
infinite  value,  and  every  circumstance  that  relates  to  hu- 
man welfare,  of  the  greatest  importance  ;  for  Christians 
are  convinced  that  the  founder  of  their  religion  regards 
every  act  of  kindness,  done  to  the  meanest  human  being, 
as  done  to  himself;  and  will  these  very  Christians  lightly 
esteem  connexions  with  this  lower  world,  and  deem  it 
superfluous  to  exercise  care  for  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind ?  Christianity  teaches  us  that  a  man's  soul  is  saved, 
if  he  has  been  as  pious  toward  God  and  as  kind  and  be- 
nevolent to  man,  as  Christ  was  ;  if  he  has  acted  like 
Christ,  and,  as  far  as  able  and  circumstances  required, 
imitated  Him  by  offering  his  own  life  in  sacrifice  for  the 
good  of  the  world  ;  and  will  such  a  care  for  the  soul 
create  superfluous  idlers,  whose  conversation  is  not  upon 
earth?  Christianity  teaches  us  that  the  employments  of 
this  life  are  exercises  to  prepare  us  for  the  higher  business 
of  a  better  world  ;  that  the  more  faithful  a  Christian  is 
in  attending  to  whatever  is  intrusted  to  him  here,  the 
more  active,  attached  to  order,  and  truly  benevolent  he 
proves,  the  greater  are  the  rewards  which  he  is  to  expect 
hereafter,  and  the  more  important  will  be  the  commissions 
which  he  obtains ;  and  can  he  believe  that  the  disquie- 
tudes and  cares  of  earth  will  obstruct  his  wa}^  to  the  fe- 
licities of  heaven  ?  How  unjustly  that  man  treats  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  entirely  made  up  of  activity  and  disin- 
terested love,  who  confounds  its  benevolent  doctrines  with 
the  conceits  of  idle  hypocrites  and  foolish  enthusiasts,  and 
wrests  Scriptural  expressions  badly  understood,  as  objec- 
tions against !  If  the  religion  of  Jesus  has  often  seemed  pre- 
judicial to  the  honor  of  princes  and  the  welfare  of  states, 
apparently  caused  thrones  to  tremble,  and  incessantly  dis- 
turbed the  general  peace  ;  if  it  has  apparently  drawn  a 
great  multitude  of  useful  men  from  society  and  active  life, 
transformed  them  into  worthless  idlers,  and  shut  them  up  in 
consecrated  prisons  ;  it  is  in  appearance  only.  The 
causes  of  these  disorders  are  to  be  sought  for  somewhere 
else ;  even  in  the  lust  of  power  and  the  superstition  which 
19 


218  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

have  assumed  its  name.  Jesus  and  his  friends  recom- 
mended obedience  to  every  government  without  excep- 
tion, and  required  one  to  submit  to  every  human  regula- 
tion, as  long  as  the  society  in  which  he  lived,  should  en- 
dure. The  principal  law  of  universal  philanthrophy  which 
they  prescribed,  does  not  permit  a  Christian  to  be  faith- 
less, restless,  or  cruel ;  it  binds  him  much  stronger  to  his 
native  country  and  renders  him  much  more  active  in  be- 
half of  the  general  good,  than  the  irrational,  and  often 
very  misanthropical  patriotism  which  was  so  greatly  ad- 
mired by  some  nations  of  the  old  world.  The  religion, 
which  Jesus  undertook  to  make  universal,  can  indeed,  by 
improving  the  dispositions  and  feelings  of  rulers,  shedding 
light  every  where,  and  producing  genuine  and  tender  phi- 
lanthropy, prove  the  mediate  occasion  of  changes  also  in 
civil  regulations,  but  they  will  be  such  changes  as  must  ren- 
der the  laws  milder  and  more  just,  add  to  the  venerableness 
and  sanctity  of  human  rights,  and  in  every  respect  increase 
the  perfection  of  a  state  ;  and  who  would  not  wish  every 
nation  to  undergo  so  happy  a  revolution  ?  Otherwise,  it 
harmonizes  with  all  constitutions,  and  is  opposed  to  no  use- 
ful regulation,  and  hence,  may  prosper  in  every  country.* 
§  94.  And  such  being  the  character  of  the  religion  which 
Jesus  intended  to  make  universal,  should  we  have  any 
fears  as  to  the  possibility  of  expressing  its  principal  truths 
in  all  languages  ? — these  truths,  sa  short,  so  intelligible, 
and  in  every  respect,  so  adapted  to  human  reason  ?  Could 
Christianity  have  been  embraced  by  so  many  barbarous 

*  [The  sophistical  reasoning  of  the  Earl  of,  or  Lord,  Shaftesbury, 
here  refuted, has,  as  we  are  informed,  N.  Y.  Observer,  Vol. IX. No.  26. 
p.  101,  lately  been  revived  again  by  infidels  in  France,  and  made 
the  basis  of  an  organized  plan  for  spreading  abroad  their  venom. — 
How  little  seriousness  do  these  men  exhibit  in  their  inquiries  after 
truth  !  How  obviously  are  they  governed  by  a  spirit  of  scorn,  levi- 
ty, and  impiety,  instead  of  a  spirit  of  obedience  to  the  will  of  God  ! 
For  some  excellent  remarks  upon  this  subject,  vid.  Wilson,  On  the 
Evidences  of  Christianity,  Vol.  I.  Lect.  H.  p.  46  seqq.  For  remarks 
more  in  detail  upon  Lord  Shaftesbury's  reasoning,  vid.  Essay  on  the 
Characteristics,  by  John  Brown  D.D.,  London,  1752  j  especially  p. 
206  seqq.  Tr.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  219 

nations  in  the  first  centuries  of  its  existence,  if  it  were 
impossible  to  impart  it  to  such  as  make  use  of  a  barba- 
rous language  ?*  It  is  true,  languages  have  been  discover- 
ed in  modern  times,  of  incredible  poverty  and  imperfec- 
tion ; — languages,  into  which  the  -philosophy  of  Christian- 
ity cannot  be  translated ; — which  contain  no  words  for 
the  artificial  systems  into  which  the  religion  of  Jesus 
has  been  transformed.  But  why  is  this  necessary  ? 
Do  we  not  know  from  satisfactory  attempts,  that  it  is  not 
impossible  to  express  the  principal  truths  of  Christianity 
in  the  very  poorest  languages  ?  And  cannot  the  very 
roughest  language  be  cultivated,  enriched,  and  rendered 
pliant  ?  Were  the  rich  languages  of  Greece  and  Rome 
at  first  more  copious  and  perfect,  than  those  of  the  Kam- 
tschadales  and  Esquimaux  ?  As  a  nation's  ideas  increase, 
it  gains  also  in  expression.  Christianity,  therefore,  instead 
of  being  excluded  by  the  imperfection  of  language,  from 
an  introduction  into  many  regions,  may  become  the  means 
of  improving  and  enriching  the  languages  themselves,  and 
thus  opening  a  way  for  its  own  universal  extension. f 


*  Comp.  what  Theodoret  says  respecting  this  circumstance,  Grae- 
car.  affection,  curat.  Disput.  V.  p..  839  seq.  Tom.  IV.  Schulz's  ed. 

t  This  is  not  a  mere  conjecture.  It  is  certain  from  matters  of 
fact  that  the  extension  of  Christianity  can  produce  this  effect. 
There  is  a  very  remarkable  confirmation  of  this  important  subject 
to  be  met  with  in  Loskiel's  Geschichto  der  Mission  der  evangeli- 
schen  BrUder  unter  den  Iq^ianern  in  Nordamerika,  S.  27.  [History 
of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  in  three  parts;  by  George  Henry  Loskiel.  Translated  from 
the  German  by  Christian  Ignatius  la  Trobe,  p.  21,  Lond.  1794.  -Tr.] 
"  The  want  of  proper  expressions  in  spiritual  things,  of  which  they 
were  totally  ignorant,"  says  this  author,  speaking  of  these  people, 
"  was  most  perplexing.  But  since  the  Gospel  has  been  preached 
among  them,  the  language  of  the  Delawares  and  Iroquois  have  gain- 
ed much  in  this  respect.  And  in  proportion  as  the  believing  In- 
dians grow  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  his  word, 
their  languages  improve  and  become  more  copious."  [Comp.  Doe- 
derlein,  Fragm.  und  Antifr.  II.  144 — 155  ;  Dobritzhofer,  Ge- 
Bchichte  der  Abiponer,  II.  239  ff.,  where  he  remarks  how  the  mis- 
sionaries went  to  work  in  order  to  express  Christian  ideas  in  foreign 
languages.  Our  age  derives  the  strongest  proof  from  the  transla- 
tions which  have  been  made  of  the  Bible  by  the  Bible  Societies  in- 
to a  multitude  of  languages  used  without  the  limits  of  Europe,  and 


220  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

§  95.  I  do  not  think  that  any  one  will  resort  ultimately  to 
the  fact  that  Christianity  has  never  yet  been  universal,  and 
thence  presume  to  draw  the  conclusion  that  it  never  can 
be.  The  obstacles  which  have  hitherto  opposed  its  univer- 
sal extension  may  disappear.  Indeed,  the  general  con- 
nexion between  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  which  is  ex- 
pected to  precede  this  event,  seems,  by  the  united  influ- 
ence of  various .  causes,  to  be  greatly  advanced.  More- 
over, Christianity  actually  prevails  among  that  portion  of 
the  human  family  which  is  the  most  distinguished  for 
knowledge,  riches,  and  power,  and  exerts  a  most  decided 
Influence  upon  all  the  other  regions  of  the  earth. 

Let  no  one  fear  that  this  religion  will  be  destroy- 
ed or  even  injured,  should  the  new  states  of  Europe 
which  rise  up  before  our  eyes,  rob  her  of  all  the  external 
authority  and  civil  power  with  which  she  has  been  in- 
vested under  the  old  constitutions.  She  does  not  need 
this  power  in  order  to  be  preserved  and  enabled  to  exert 
her  benevolent  influence.  She  existed  for  three  centu- 
ries and  obtained  firm  footing  in  the  best  countries  of  the 
earth,  without  being  the  privileged  religion  of  the  state ; 
and  had  she  never  been,  men  could  never  have  made 
use  of  her  as  an  instrument  of  oppression,  as  they  have 
done.  She  would  not  have  remained  for  centuries  a  degen- 
erated superstition  under  the  control  of  ambitious  priests, 
who  patronized  her  for  the  sake  of  their  own  advantage.  It 
would  not  have  cost  so  much  labor  and  blood,  as  it  ac- 


which  are  constantly  increasing  in  number  ;  as  one  will  readily  per-* 
ceive  from  reading  the  yearly  reports  of  the  Bible  Society  of  Great 
Britain.  Comp.  Die  Thatigkeit  der  Brittisch-Auslandischen  Bibel- 
gesellschaft  zur  Verbreitung  der  h.  S.  in  den  Landern  und  Sprachen 
der  verschiedenen  Welttheile,  Hamburg,  1815.  Hess,  Das  Vorse- 
hungsvolle  der  Bibelverbreitung,  S.90f. ;  [the  History  of  the  Origin 
and  first  ten  years  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  By 
the  Rev.  John  Owen,  N.  Y.  1817;  Tr.]  and  the  various  reports  oftho 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  especially  the  last,  or  2oth, 
Appendix,  p.  130  seq.,  Lond.  1829,  at  which  place  a  survey  is  given 
of  the  languages  and  dialects  into  which  the  Bible  has  been  either 
entirely  or  in  part  translated.  The  number  is  stated  at  145,  among 
which  there  are  62,  into  which  the  Bible  had  not  been  translated  be- 
fore the  formation  of  this  society.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  221 

tually  did,  to  purify  her  and  restore  her.  She  may  there- 
fore well  be  left  to  her  own  fate.  She  will  sustain  herself 
and  make  progress.  Men  will  gradually  come  off  from  their 
hostility  to  her,  when  the  storms  of  revolutions  are  allay- 
ed, and  quiet  reflection  respecting  her  relations  to  the 
public  weal,  take  the  place  of  those  passionate  commo- 
tions, which  have  thus  far  overturned  and  destroyed  every 
thing  legitimate.^  Besides,  it  was,  as  has  been  shown, 
not  the  wish  nor  the  intention  of  Jesus,  that  the  civil  power 
should  come  with  its  despotic  laws  and  authoritative  decis- 
ions, to  aid  him  in  the  execution  of  his  plan.  The  proof, 
however,  which  we  here  wish  to  draw  from  the  plan  of  Jesus 
would  not  be  weakened*  in  the  least  degree,  should  this 
plan  never  be  carried  into  complete  execution  ;  provided, 
it  is  only  certain  that  it  is  so  formed  as  to  contain  nothing 
the  execution  of  which  is  impossible. 

And  it  seems  to  me,  that  this  is  perfectly  clear  from 
the  foregoing  considerations.  The  plan  which  Jesus  de- 
vised for  the  general  good,  has  nothing  in  it  chimerical, 
extravagant,  or  impracticable.  It  is  constructed  in  every 
respect  .with  reference  to  the  character  and  wants  of  hu- 
man nature  and  the  course  of  human  affairs.  It  is  the 
greatest  and  most  exalted  plan  of  which  the  human  mind 
ever  conceived. 


II.  Jesus  the  greatest,  most  exalted  of  men. 

§  96.  But  how  great  must  that  mind  have  been  which 
devised  it,  and  thus  opened  a  way  which  no  man  had 
previously  discovered  !  It  is  time  for  us  to  attend  to  this 
consideration  and  inquire,  what  kind  of  qualities   a  plan 

*  [What  was  here  said  by  way  of  conjecture  with  rcferonce  to 
the  overthrow  of*  Christianity  among  the  French,  was  soon  after 
fulfilled.  In  the  year  1797 — 98,  the  Theophilanthropicl  worship 
was  yet  in  existence.  In  the  year  1801,  it  was  abolisljed  and  the 
Christian  worship  restored.  Vid.  Gregoire,  Geschichte  des  Theo- 
philanthropismus,  in  Staudlin's  Magazin  ftlr  Religionso-esehichle, 
IV.  257-401.]  ^  ^       o 

19* 


222  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

of  this  character  presupposes  a  soul  to  possess,  and  whether 
we  are  justified  in  thence  concluding,  that  Jesus  was  the 
greatest  and  most  exahed  being  that  ever  thought  and 
acted  upon  earth. 

§97.  There  are  three  kinds  of  qualities,  which, nfiay 
authorize  a  human  mind  to  claim  the  honor  of  a  great 
mind.  First,  an  extraordinary  perfection  of  the  intellec- 
tual faculties,  and  their  cultivation  and  exercise  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  a  knowledge  of  truth.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  a  mind  have  all  these  excellencies  of  the  intellectual 
facuhies,  in  order  to  be  thus  denominated.  That  mind 
is  called  great  which  possesses  but  one  of  them  in  a  high 
degree.  Such  a  mind  is  readily  distinguished ;  for  it 
goes  to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  human  knowledge,  and 
ventures  out  into  every  abyss  in  which  the  truth  ap- 
pears to  be  concealed.  It  does  not  confine  itself  to  the 
few  and  imperfect  notions  with  which  common  souls  are 
satisfied,  but  it  extends  its  inquiries  to  every  thing  within 
the  grasp  of  reason  and  fills  every  chaos  of  intricate  con- 
ceptions, with  order  and  light.  From  a  gende  hint 
of  nature,  of  which  an  ordinary  intellect  would  have 
taken  no  notice,  it  discovers  the  way  into  her  deepest 
mysteries,  and  from  every  degree  of  experience,  however 
small  it  may  appear,  draws  a  series  of  the  most  important 
conclusions.  It  not  only  has  the  clearest  apprehension  of 
the  ultimate  objects  of  every  thought,  effort,  and  opera- 
tion, as  bearing  upon  the  true  destination  of  rational  ex- 
istence, but  in  all  cases  makes  them  its  own,  and  refers 
every  thing  to  itself.  Finally,  under  the  guidance  of 
such  knowledge  and  sagacity,  it  projects  the  most  exalted 
plans,  ascertains  the  remotest  effects  of  every  cause,  turns 
every  thing  to  its  own  account,  and  while  weaker  minds, 
distributed  to  their  posts,  are  exhausting  their  whole  strength 
in  the  small  and  narrow  sphere  assigned  to  them,  soars  up- 
ward above  them  all,  and,  by  a  secret,  invisible  power, 
brings  them  to  act  in  conformity  to  its  own  views,  and  by 
its  superiority,  induces  thousands  engaged  in  active  com- 
bat with  each  other,  to  harmonize  together,  and  at  every 
step  keeps  the  goal  in  view  at  which  it  aimed  in  the 
outset. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  223 

To  an  equal  degree,  however,  in  the  second  place,  is  our 
attention  attracted  and  our  admiration  excited  by  strength 
of  soul,  and  invincible  power  in  a  will,  free  and  obedient 
to  the  calls  of  duty.     We  cannot  refrain  from  pronoun- 
cing that  mind  great  which  we  see  acting  in  every  thing 
that  it  does,  with  an  energy  and  firm  intention,  with  an 
effort  and  power,  which  increase  with  opposition,  carry 
it  boldly  through  every  difficulty,  and  enable  it  to  keep  its 
original  goal  steadily  in  view.     We  are  astonished  at  the 
constancy  and  unchangeable  firmness  with  which  a  strong 
mind  adheres  to  its  purposes  and  pursues  them,  without 
being  wearied  with  difficulties,  deterred  by  dangers,  hush- 
ed to  sleep  by  the  slow  process  of  time,  or  discouraged 
by  want  of  success.     We  are  penetrated  with  the  most 
profound  respect,  whenever  we  discover  an  incorruptible  in- 
tegrity, a  self-control,  which  brings  every  inclination  in 
subjection  to  the  requisitions  of  law ;  and  a  faithful  ad- 
herence to  duty  which  cannot  be  made  to  quake  or  trem- 
ble  at   any  thing   on  earth  ; — whenever  we  discover  a 
strength  of  good  will,  which,  in  order  to  fulfil  its  obliga-' 
tions,  disdains  both  injury  and  profit,  and  can  neither  be 
infatuated  by  cunning,  nor  conquered  by  power.     We 
consider  it  a  most  exalted  spectacle,  and  one  that  must 
fill  every  observer  with  admiration  and  reverence,  to  be- 
hold a  great  and  virtuous  man  contending  with  opposing 
fate,  and,  though  under  its  severest  strokes,  and  in  the 
midst  of  dangers,  before  which  an  ordinary  man  would 
tremble  and  flee  away, — though  deserted  on  every  side, 
and  without  deliverance  and  without  hope,  yet  always  dis- 
playing that  tranquillity  of  soul,  that  equanimity  and  pres- 
ence of  mind,  that  firm  adherence  to  truth  and  rectitude, 
which  were  peculiar  to  him  in  propitious  circumstances  ; 
— to   behold   a  man  whom  the  falling  fabric  of  the  uni- 
verse may  strike  to  the  ground,  but  cannot  make  afraid. 
Spirits   of  such    superiority   and   strength  are  certainly 
made  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  universal  admiration, 
and  we  are  inclined  to  recognise  them  as  great,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  giddiness  created  by  gazing  at  the  dazzling 
height  on  which  they  stand. 


224  Christ's  plan  proves  hjm 

But  there  is  a  third  class  of  great  minds  which  extort 
from  us  our  admiration  ;  not  by  a  power  which  humbles 
and  depresses  us,  but  one  which  fills  our  hearts  with  a 
confidence,  a  gratitude,  and  a  love,  towards  them,  which 
render  the  confession  of  their  greatness,  a  delicious  and 
most  agreeable  task.  To  this  class  belong  those  benefac- 
tors of  mankind,  whose  excellence  consists  in  an  exten- 
sive benevolence,  and  an  all-comprehensive  goodness  of 
heart ;  whose  most  zealous,  and  whose  ceaseless  efforts 
are  to  enlighten,  improve,  save,  and  bless  all  around  them ; 
who  can  even  load  an  ungrateful  world  with  benefits,  and 
offer  up  their  own  lives  for  their  enemies.  We  cannot 
avoid  indeed  being  carried  away  with  admiration  and  as- 
tonishment at  the  two  first  kinds  of  greatness  when  unac- 
companied with  this.  Our  humbled  hearts,  however,  re- 
main locked  up  and  cold  while  we  gaze  upon  them,  or 
are  filled  with  envy  and  aversion.  Spirits  of  such  a  char- 
acter we  cannot  love.  As  regards  persons  so  dissimilar  to 
us,  we  cannot  feel  that  confident  affection  with  which  we 
are  drawn  out  towards  those  in  whom  we  discover  phi- 
lanthropical  benevolence.  Hence,  this  latter  kind  of  great- 
ness conquers  every  heart,  and  needs  merely  to  be  ex- 
hibited, in  order,  not  only  to  be  admired,  but  tenderly 
embraced  and  deeply  respected  by  every  one  in  whom  all 
traits  of  feeling  are  not  entirely  extinct. 

§  98.  But  where  is  the  human  mind  that  has  united 
these  three  kinds  of  greatness  in  itself?  Separately  we 
often  meet  with  them  in  different  degrees  and  great  va- 
rieties. History  unquestionably  furnishes  us  with  spirits 
of  penetrating  sagacity ;  men  of  unshaken  firmness,  and 
invincible  courage ;  philanthropists,  gentle,  tender,  and 
full  of  an  activity  which  springs  from  disinterestedness  and 
magnanimity.  Ordinarily,  however,  there  exists  but  one 
kind  of  greatness,  which  has  such  a  decided  preponder- 
ance as  to  leave  the  others  in  no  correct  proportion,  and 
of  the  last  kind  especially,  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
antiquity  are  totally  destitute.  The  plan  devised  by  the 
founder  of  Christianity  is  a  proof  that  these  three  kinds 
of  greatness  existed  in  the  soul  of  its  author  in  a  harmony 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  225 

and  to  a  degree,  of  which  there  is  no  example  in  all  his- 
tory. 

§  99.  The  plan  with  which  Jesns  occupied  himself, 
whether  we  look  at  its  purport  or  its  extent,  was  perfectly 
new,  and  one,  of  which  no  human  being  had  ever  had 
the  least  conception.  Many  plans  had  been  formed  be- 
fore Christ  for  the  improvement  of  single  nations  and 
states,  and  many  efforts  had  been  made  to  carry  them 
into  execution,  but  none  of  them  struck  deep  enough. 
Their  projectors  satisfied  themselves  with  checking  the 
grossest  abuses  and  disorders,  and  never  thought  of  radi- 
cally curing  the  evil  in  existence.  The  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity alone  reached  an  elevation  to  which  no  reformer 
before  him  h^d  ever  approached.  He  conceived  the  ex- 
alted, and,  in  the  most  appropriate  sense  of  the  word,  the 
divine  idea  of  in  reality  new  creating  and  regenerating 
the  whole  human  fafnily.  It  was  not  his  intention  to  at- 
tack a  few  vices,  denounce  a  few  abuses,  and  rectify  here 
and  there  a  disorder.  It  was  his  intention  to  create  man- 
kind anew,  and  stop  up  the  very  sources  of  wickedness. 
Think  of  the  greatness  presupposed  in  the  formation  of 
such  a  plan  !  No  benefactor  of  mankind  before  Je- 
sus, had  ever  observed  how  little  could  be  accom- 
plished by  singly  attacking  the  bad  habits  that  pre- 
vailed, without  striking  at  the  root  from  which  they 
sprung.  Hence,  he,  who  as  a  legislator  or  ruler,  had  to 
do  with  whole  nations,  satisfied  himself  with  being  able  to 
produce  and  maintain  external  order  among  them ;  and 
he,  who  as  a  philosopher  and  moralist  attempted  to  accom- 
plish more,  and  endeavored  to  effect  an  internal  refor- 
mation also,  limited  his  efforts,  and  confined  himself  to  the 
education  of  a  few  select  disciples.  Jesus  possessed 
deeper,  wider,  and  more  correct  views,  than  all  the  re- 
formers that  preceded  him.  He  alone  penetrated  into  the 
most  secret  wants  of  mankind  and  knew  what  was  pecu- 
liarly needful  for  them.  He  alone  commenced  his  re- 
formation where  it  must  be  commenced,  in  order  entirely 
to  change  the  manner  of  thinking,  WMlling,  and  perceiving, 
to  which  men  have  been  accustomed.     He  alone  extend- 


226  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

ed  his  views  over  the  whole  human  family  and  included 
.  all  nations  in  his  plan.  He  alone,  with  a  superiority  of 
mind,  to  which  every  thing  that  had  previously  been  at- 
tempted for  the  welfare  of  the  human  race  was  far  too 
small  and  defective,  soared  to  an  idea  which  contained  the 
excellencies  of  all  the  plans  which  had  ever  been  invented 
for  the  improvement  of  man, — to  the  idea  of  forming  a 
new  moral  creation.  Even  here  therefore  we  discover 
an  acuteness,  penetration,  and  extension  of  thought,  which 
designate  a  most  extraordinary  mind. 

And  with  what  calmness,  temperance,  and  moderation, 
did  Jesus  devise  and  prosecute  this  great  and  divine  plan  ! 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  great  men  to  be  so  an- 
imated  and  carried  away  with  the  beauty  and  excellence 
of  an  undertaking,  as,  in  the  midst  of  the  enthusiasm  thus 
enkindled,  either  not  to  perceive,  or  else  to  despise,  the 
difficulties  which  oppose  its  accomplishment,  and  give  them- 
selves up  too  hastily  to  the  influence  of  agreeable  dreams. 
No  traces  of  such  precipitation,  such  want  of  correct 
judgement  and  cool  reflection,  are  to  be  met  with  in  Je- 
sus. However  adapted  his  plan  was  to  inflame  the  imag- 
ination and  heat  it  with  beautiful  and  philanthropical 
dreams,  it  seems  not  to  have  produced'  such  an  efl^ect  up- 
on him  ;  for  he  always  appeared  entirely  free  from  every 
wild  and  furious  passion.  He  neither  represented  the  ex- 
ecution of  his  plan  as  easier,  nor  its  effects  as  more  charm- 
ing than  they  actually  were,  or  might  be.  It  was  not  the 
aim  of  Jesus  all  at  once  to  transform  the  world  into  a  par- 
adise. He  said  nothing  of  a  golden  age  about  to  com- 
mence. He  did  not  encourage  his  friends  with  the  hope 
of  the  easy  advancement  of  their  enterprises,  nor  promise 
them  a  quick  and  splendid  victory.  No,  the  whole  of  the 
immense  project  lay  spread  out  before  him  with  its  innu- 
merable difficuhies,  hindrances,  exceptions,  and  dangers. 
He  never  anticipated  any  thing  more  respecting  it,  than 
was  practicable  according  to  the  course  and  character  of 
human  affairs. 

There  is  one  circumstance  worthy  of  particular  notice 
in  this  place.     Men,  who  occupy  themselves  with  great 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  227 

and  ideal  plans,  and  constantly  live,  as  it  were  in  futurity 
and  the  unlimited  space  of  universality,  are  ordinarily  ex- 
travagant beings,  and,  as  regards  the  affairs  of  life,  useless 
visionaries.  They  forget  the  relations  which  they  actu- 
ally sustain,  overlook  what  lies  near  them,  and,  in  their 
actions  and  the  every  day  business  of  life,  often  violate 
the  most  common  rules  of  prudence.  In  this  respect  also, 
the  mind  of  Jesus  is  most  advantageously  distinguished 
from  all  others. 

Notwithstanding  the  zeal  with  which  he  formed  his  great 
plan  and  kept  it  in  view,  he  ever  possessed  a  vivid  sense 
of  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed  among  his 
people,  and  attended  to  the  smaller  matters  intrusted  to 
him,  with  as  much  practical  wisdom,  prudence,  and  reflec- 
/  tion,  as  if  he  had  thought  of  nothing  else.  He  was  as  in- 
timate and  well  acquainted  with  the  moral  and  political 
constitution  of  his  country,  the  inclinations,  interests,  and 
prejudices  of  all  ranks  and  parties,  all  the  dispositions, 
feelings,  measures,  and  undertakings  of  enemies  and 
friends,  and  the  personal  character  of  every  one  with  whom 
he  had  to  do,  as  if  he  had  always  confined  his  thoughts' 
and  observations  to  practical  affairs,  and  made  it  his  only 
business  to  study  his  condition,  and  acquire  the  knowledge 
of  a  man,  who  lived  entirely  for  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed.  Accordingly,  his  mind  embraced  the 
whole,  and  viewed  every  thing  upon  a  large  scale.  And 
yet  nothing  trifling  escaped  his  notice,  however  insignifi- 
cant. He  was  as  capable  of  projecting  a  plan  whose  be- 
nevolent effects  should  extend  from  one  end  of  the  earth 
to  the  other,  and  render  all  mankind  happy,  as  he  was  of 
composing  the  slightest  difficulties  among  his  pupils,  and 
laboring  with  indescribable  patience  and  forbearance  in 
their  education. 

^  100.  The  greatness  of  Christ's  mind  becomes  still 
more  apparent,  however,  when  we  take  into  consideration 
singly,  the  constituent  parts  of  his  plan.  It  was  calculated 
principally,  as  has  been  shown,  for  the  purpose  of  chan- 
ging and  improving  religion,  morality,  and  society.  One 
is  astonished  to  discover  the  view  that  he  took  of  these 


228 

three  things ;  to  observe  how  minutely  and  correctly 
he  understood  what  ought  to  be  done  for  each  of  them  ; 
and  finally,  to  reflect  upon  the  facility  and  exalted  simplic- 
ity, with  which  he  brought  about  this  improvement,  and 
put  an  end  to  wants,  for  which  multitudes  of  sagacious 
thinkers,  by  their  various  speculations,  had  sought  to  pro- 
vide relief  in  yain.  By  abolishing  the  notions  then  prev- 
alent respecting  God,  and  substituting  in  their  stead,  one 
that  represented  him  as  a  supreme  father,  filled  with  love 
to  mankind,  and  educating  them  for  morality  and  happi- 
ness, he  freed  religion  at  once,  from  the  corruptions  with 
which  it  had  been  disfigured,  and  imparted  to  it  those  ex- 
cellencies which  it  ought  to  have.  Before  this  representa- 
tion, superstition  of  every  kind,  the  grand  cause  of  its  ob- 
scurity, immediately  vanished  away.  By  this  means,  re- 
ligion was  changed  from  an  immoral  service,  prompted 
by  fear,  into  a  worship  of  God  in  Spirit  and  in  truth.  It 
thus  obtained  a  clearness  and  simplicity,  which  it  had  nev- 
er before  possessed,  and  became  intelligible  even  to  children 
in  its  most  exahed  dignity.  Hitherto  it  had  been  an  in^ 
strument  of  oppression,  in  the  hands  of  ambitious  priests, 
now  it  became  an  affair  of  the  heart.  Finally,  by  means 
of  this  representation,  religion  was  transformed  into  a 
source  of  gende  consolation  in  all  the  adversities  of  hfe, 
and  made  in  a  convincing  manner,  to  reveal  an  immortal- 
ity.— With  as  much  ease  and  great  success,  did  he  rem- 
edy the  evils  existing  in  morality.  Here,  every  thing  was 
reduced  to  active  love  to  God  and  man.  The  law  res- 
pecting this  love  was  not  treated  by  Jesus  as  a  subordi- 
nate command,  as  it  apparently  was  in  the  Mosaic  code, 
but  as  the  principle  law,  and  one  which  comprehended  all 
the  rest.  By  means  of  this  law,  morality  was  brought  in- 
to close  and  lasting  connexion  with  religion,  from  which,  it 
had  hitherto  been  separated,  both  in  theory  and  practice. 
In  the  same  way  also,  it  was  secured  as  much  against  de- 
gradation and  lax  principles,  as  against  extravagance  and 
morose  severity.  It  thus  obtained  an  intelligibility  and  prac- 
ticalness, and,  at  the  same  time,  a  kindness  and  warmth, 
calculated  to  render  it  universally  efficacious.     It  was  now 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  229 

more  than  ever  before,  to  model  human  nature,  lead  man- 
kind on  to  the  attainment  of  every  kind  of  dignity,  enjoy- 
ment and  perfection,  and  by  its  friendly  mediation  bring 
the  nations  of  the  earth  in  closer  connexion  with  each  oth- 
er.— In  this  way,  also,  preparation  was  made,  for  a  radi- 
cal improvement  of  the  social  relations  among  men.  The 
wisest  and  greatest  characters  before  Jesus,  had  felt  the 
need  of  such  improvement ;  but  as  the  means  of  effecting 
it,  they  thought  only  and  that  unanimously  of  changing  the 
laws  and  introducing'a  new  organization  of  states.  Hence, 
under  the  influence  of  a  kind  of  sunshine  zeal,  they  wrote 
concerning  the  best  forms  and  modifications  of  civil  socie- 
ty, and  drew  up  ideal  constitutions.  Even  here,  Jesus  took 
his  own,  and  indeed,  the  only  right  way.  He  alone  com- 
menced with  the  great  truth,  that  while  compulsory  laws 
and  political  regulations  may  produce  external  propriety 
of  conduct,  they  never  can  produce  genuine  morality. 
The  latter  however  must  exist,  in  order  that  civil  society 
be  prosperous.  Accordingly,  he  kept  his  establishment  en- 
tirely distinct  from  the  affairs  of  the  state.  He  began 
his  measures  with  improving  the  individual  and  filling 
him  with  a  real  love  of  goodness,  and  felt  certain  that  a 
state  blessed  with  virtuous  citizens,  would  prosper  even 
with  imperfect  laws,  and  be  able  to  provide  a  better  consti- 
tution for  itself  without  any  violent  concussion.  It  was 
not  his  object  to  improve  the  citizens  by  the  state,  but  the 
state  by  the  citizens. 

He,  who  is  acquainted  with  that  part  of  antiquity  before 
Jesus,  and  knows  what  its  greatest  men  thought  of  religion, 
morality,  and  civil  society,  and  what  notions  they  had,  res- 
pecting the  relation  of  these  things  to  each  other,  and  what 
means  they  employed  for  purifying  them  and  uniting  them 
together,  will  be  unable  to  deny,  that  what  Jesus  taught, 
contrived  and  accomplished  in  this  respect,  was  new,  pe- 
culiar to  him  alone,  and  directly  opposed  to  the  notions 
then  prevalent.  No  one  had  contemplated  these  subjects 
in  this  point  of  view,  or  penetrated  so  far  into  their  de- 
fects, and  the  wants  of  human  nature  in  general.  No  one 
had  been  able  to  speak  of  them  with  such  clearness,  fa- 
20 


230 

cility,  and  assurance,  and  reduce  every  thing  to  order. 
For  many  centuries  since  his  age,  reason  has  been  think- 
ing, exploring,  and  carrying  on  investigations,  as  far  as  it 
is  possible  to  carry  them  ;  but  it  has  never  yet  been  able  to 
produce  any  thing  better,  more  useful,  or  intelligible, 
respecting  religion  and  morality,  and  the  relation  which 
they  bear  to  civil  society  ;  and  whenever  it  has  departed 
from  the  fundamental  principles  laid  down  by  Jesus, 
it  has  inevitably  fallen,  either  upon  opinions  prejudi- 
cial to  truth,  or  upon  precepts  prejudicial  to  virtue. 
But  what  a  mind  must  he  have  had,  who  thought  and 
spoke  about  the  most  important  and  most  exalted  affairs 
of  mankind,  in  so  novel,  so  original,  and  so  correct  a  man- 
ner ;  with  such  penetrating  sagacity,  and  yet  so  intelligi- 
bly ;  who,  in  the  modest  and  unpretending  capacity  of  a 
popular  teacher,  delivered  whatever  is  useful  and  true, 
for  which  speculation  had  searched  the  most  secret  depths 
in  vain,  and  pointed  out  to  human  reason  the  results  to 
which  it  must  be  brought  by  all  its  efforts,  if  it  would  re- 
frain from  embracing  error  !^ 

For  Christ's  object  was,  not  to  disturb  reason  in  respect 
to  its  activity,  but  solely  to  guide  it  by  the  truths  which  he 
delivered  as  from  God.  Among  all  the  positive  religions 
of  the  world,  there  is  none  which  favors  genuine  reflection ; 
which  requires  or  compels  the  human  mind  to  think  for  it- 
self. AU  without  exception  set  definite  and  arbitrary 
bounds  to  the  spirit  of  investigation,  and,  in  proportion  as 
they  engage  in  laying  down  precepts  for  practical  life,  re- 
quire a  blind  obedience.  Jesus,  on  the  other  hand, 
though  he  taught  a  religion,  which  contains  every  thing 

*  We  may  here  adduce  the  testimony  of  a  man,  whom  no  one  will 
pronounce  partial  in  this  case.  "  Je  ne  sais,"  says  Rousseau  in  the 
Lettres  ecrites  de  la  Montagne,  p.  65,  in  the  note,  [Lettre  3me  in 
the  Oeuvres  Corapl.,  Tom.  XII.  72,]  "pourquoi  Ton  veut  attribuer  au 
progres  de  la  philosophic  la  belle  morale  de  nos  livres.  Cette  mora- 
le, tiree  de  I'Evangile,  itait  chrdtienne,  avant  d'etre  philosophiqve 
— Les  preceptes  de  Platon  sent  souvent  tres  sublimes  j  mais  combi- 
en  n'erre-t-il  pas  quelquefois,  et  jusqu'ou  ne  vont  pas  ses  erreurs  ? 
Quant  k  Ciceron,  peut  on  croire,  que  sans  Platon  ce  Rh6teur  efit 
trouve  ses  Offices  ?  L'Evanffile  seul  est,  quand  k  la  morale,  toujours 
sdr,  toujours  vrai,  toujours  unique,  et  toujours  semblable  k  lui-m6me." 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND    DIVINE.  '231 

requisite  for  man  in  any  situation  of  life,  taught  nothing  in 
stated  rules ;  in  precepts  developed  and  established  once 
for  all ;  in  a  system  of  doctrines  closed  forever,  and  in- 
capable of  being  farther  reflected  upon  and  modified,  ac- 
cording to  the  necessities,  knowledge,  and  progress,  of 
each  succeeding  age.  No ;  he  imparted  merely  general 
doctrines,  and  useful  principles,  upon  which  human  rea- 
son may  labor  in  divers  ways.  He,  who  reflects  upon 
these  doctrines  and  knows  how  to  develop  the  results  of 
these  principles,  finds  them  to  contain  every  thing  that  he 
needs,  and  to  involve  whatever  is  adapted  to  guide, 
improve,  and  comfort  mankind  and  render  them  happy,  in 
all  possible  circumstances.  Of  this  guidance,  however, 
this  improvement,  this  comfort,  this  happiness,  he  can  ful- 
ly partake  only  when  he  exerts  his  reason,  applies  his  re- 
ligion with  reflection,  and  makes  its  principles  useful  and 
valuable  by  freely  following  them.  It  was  not  the  inten- 
tion of  Jesus  to  think  as  it  were  for  mankind,  and  lay  be- 
fore them  a  connected  series  of  rules  and  doctrines,  which 
required  solely  to  be  committed  to  memory,  and  needed 
no  farther  reflection  from  his  creatures.  On  the  other 
hand,  to  practise  and  obey  his  religion  was  to  constitute 
a  powerful  charm  for  human  reason,  a  lasting,  and  health- 
ful exercise.* 

Consider  also  what  a  freedom  from  prejudice,  what  a 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  what  a  survey  of  all  the 
circumstances,  conditions,  and  civil  relations  in  which  men 
are  to  be  met  with,  was  exhibited  by  Jesus  in  the  directions 

*  [Baco,  Da  Augment.  Scient.,  lib.  IX.  c.  1.  p.  598,  ed.  Amst., 
16(52,  in  12,  [Bacon's  Works,  ?Lond.,  1824,  Vol.  VII.  c.  1.  p. 
468  ;  comp.  also  Wilson,  On  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  Vol.  II. 
Lsct.  XXIII.  p.  294.  Lect  XXIV.  p.  324,  Bost.  1830 .;:jTr".;]  sayslvery 
aptly  :  "  Christiana.  Fides,  ut  in  omnibus  sic  in  lioc  ipso  eminet, 
quod  aureara  servet  mediocritatem,  circa  usuni  rationis  et  disputa- 
tionis  (quae  rationis  proles  est)  inter  Leges  Ethnicorum  et  Mahome- 
ti,  quae  extrema  sectantur.  Religio  siquidem  Ethnicorum,  Fidei 
aut  Confessionis  constantis  nihil  habebat ;  contra  in  religione  Ma- 
home  ti,  omnia  disputatio  interdicta  est :  ita,  ut  altera,  erroris  vagi 
et  multiplicis;  altera,  vafrae  cuiusdam  ot  cautae  imposturae  faciem 
prae  se  ferat  ;  cum  sancta  Fides  Christiana  rationis  usum  et  dispu- 
Uti  onenj  (sed  secundum  debitos  fines)  et  recipiat  et  reiiciat."] 


232 

which  he  gave  his  friends,  respecting  the  extension  of  his 
doctrines,  and  in  the  means  which  he  employed  for  carrying 
his  plan  into  execution.  In  these  respects  also,  he  avoid- 
ed all  those  by-paths  into  which  the  greatest  geniuses  be- 
fore him,  fell,  and  those  of  the  present  age  do  still  fall, 
whenever  they  speak  of  efFectingiimportant  improvements. 
How  often  has  power  been  brought  to  the  aid  of  virtue 
and  truth,  and  made  use  of  for  the  purpose  of  urging  them 
upon  the  world.  Jesus  intended  to  avoid  every  thing 
that  might  have  the  appearance  of  constraint.  Others, 
who  perceive  the  unsuitableness  of  a  compulsory  mode  of 
proceeding,  think  they  may  guide  the  world  and  render 
it  happy,  by  the  aid  of  secret  associations,  without  being 
noticed.  Even  this  means  of  doubtful  propriety,  Jesus 
treated  with  utter  neglect.  He  intended  to  accomplish 
every  thing  that  he  did,  in  the  most  candid  and  open  man- 
ner. It  has  been  peculiar  to  the  founders  of  religions  al- 
most universally  to  fall  into  the  mistake  of  forming  regula- 
tions, instituting  ceremonies,  and  laying  down  positive  pre- 
cepts, which  will  not  admit  of  being  observed  every  where. 
In  this  way  they  have  proved  beyond  question,  that  they  were 
confined  to  limited  spheres,  and  had  but  little  acquaintance 
with:the  circumstances  of  different  nations,  and  the  charac- 
ters of  their  respective  countries.  In  this  respect  also  Je- 
sus conducted  with  a  wisdom  that  took  a  survey  of  every 
thing.  His  religion  contains  absolutely  nothing  which  can- 
not be  practised  every  where. 

§  101.  But  what  shall  we  think,  what  conception  form 
of  the  greatness  of  a  mind  that  boldly  worked  its  way 
through  the  thickest  darkness  of  false  opinions  and  super- 
stitious prejudices  in  which  his  age  was  enveloped  ;  out  of 
a  mukitude  of  follies  and  dreams,  selected  the  most  use- 
ful of  every  thing  that  had  ever  been  uttered  by  man  res- 
pecting the  worship  of  God  and  true  happiness ;  and  not 
only  purified  it  and  supplied  its  defects,  but  represented 
it  with  a  clearness  and  simplicity,  a  brevity  and  definite- 
ness,  in  which  it  proves  amply  sufficient  for  the  strongest, 
without  becoming  burdensome  to  the  weakest;    in  which 


extrAlOrdinary  and  divine.  233 

it  may  serve  as  a  safe  guide  to  the  most  acute  thinkers  in 
all  the  labyrinths  of  speculation,  while  it  constitutes  a  per- 
fectly plain,  and  intelligible  system  of  rules  for  the  most 
unpractised,  if  honest  enough  to  obey  it,  as  far  as  they 
comprehend  it  ?  Let  the  man  be  named  who  has  em- 
braced so  much,  penetrated  through  so  much,  accom- 
plished so  much  ; — who,  let  it  be  well  considered,  has  fix- 
ed the  principles  of  religion  and  morality,  which,  notwith- 
standing all  the  progress  made  by  the  human  mind,  all 
the  discoveries  that  have  enlarged  the  boundaries  of  its 
knowledge,  and  all  the  favorable  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  the  other  parts  of  science,  ever  remain  equally  au- 
thentic, useful,  and  certain,  and  must  always  be  recognis- 
ed as  the  only  sure  foundation  of  human  perfection.  Let 
the  man  be  named,  who  accomplished  all  this,  and  that 
too,  in  an  age  in  which  most  intellects  had  just  begun  to 
think  and  examine  for  themselves,  and  under  circumstan- 
ces, which,  as  I  shall  show  farther  on,  would  naturally  have 
confined  the  mind  of  Jesus  in  the  fetters  of  ignorance  and 
prejudice.  Any  one,  who  would  avoid  partiality,  and  not 
rashly  contradict  the  testimony  of  history,  must  admit,  that 
the  founder,'of  Christianity,  even  in  respect  to  his  intellectual 
greatness,  was  without  precedent,  and  far  excelled  all  who 
had  ever  thought  upon  earth. 

But  he  was  not  merely  the  greatest  thinker.  He  did 
not,  as  other  spirits  of  this  kind  so  often  do,  give  himself 
up  to  idle  speculations,  and  project  plans,  without  any  se- 
rious intention  of  ever  carrying  them  into  execution.  In 
h  is  plan,  he  also  exhibited  a  strength  of  soul,  a  power  over 
his  will,  free  as  it  was,  and  obedient  to  the  calls  of  duty, 
which  equally  entitle  him  to  the  name  of  the  most  exalt- 
ed and  most  extraordinary  of  men.  His  plan  was  un- 
questionably the  greatest  of  which  a  human  mind  had  ever 
conceived.  On  this  very  account  indeed,  its  execution  was 
necessarily  to  be  connected  with  more  difficuhies,  than  had 
attended  that  of  any  other  plan.  Jesus  had  a  full  view  of 
all  these  difficulties.  He  spoke  of  them  with  sufficient  fre- 
quency, and  in  so  doing,  proved  that  he  felt  how  much  he  had 
to  contend  with.  He  knew  that  it  would  require  centuries 
20* 


234  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

to  carry  his  plan  into  execution  ;  and  that  ahnost  innumera- 
ble obstacles  would  be  interposed  in  its  way,  in  the  very 
out-set,  by  the  attachment  of  the  Jews  to  the  religious 
regulations  of  Moses  ;  by  the  superstition  of  Heathenism, 
supported  and  defended  as  it  was,  by  the  fearful  power  of 
the  Roman  kingdom  ;  and  especially,  by  the  unheard  of 
moral  corruption  then  prevalent  in  the  world.  In  face  of 
all  these  difficulties,  however,  he  had  courage  enough  to 
cherish  the  thought  of  reforming  this  corrupt  world,  firm- 
ly resolve  to  do  so,  and  enter  upon  its  immediate  execu- 
tion. 

This  execution  itself  was  at  the  very  commencement 
of  the  undertaking  a  very  difficult  one.  He  met  with 
opposition  at  every  step.  He  had  to  contend  with  the  pre- 
judices and  shocking  ignorance  of  his  people,  with  a  stub- 
bornness and  wickedness  altogether  peculiar  to  them,  with 
the  greatest  poverty,  so  that  he  was  often  destitute  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  with  the  hatred  of  the  magistrates, 
who  every  where  laid  snares  for  him,  and  sought  to  effect 
his  destruction  ;  and  yet  nothing  caused  him  to  shrink 
back,  or  allayed  his  courage.  Every  day's  experience 
forced  upon  him  the  conviction,  that  his  doctrines,  admo- 
nitions, warnings,  and  prayers,  were  of  little  avail.  Not  even 
the  few  friends  whom  he  had  selected,  and  was  carefully 
exerting  every  effort  to  educate,  would  lay  aside  their 
own  prejudices,  and  learn  to  adopt  new  dispositions, 
views,  and  opinions.  With  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple, his  success  in  this  respect  was  far  less.  They 
were  too  fanatical  as  a  nation,  too  full  of  prejudice,  too 
mighty  in  superstition,  and  too  fiery  and  powerful  in  its 
defence.  It  was  impossible  for  him  therefore,  with  all 
the  personal  sacrifice  of  strength,  convenience  and  repose, 
to  which  he  subjected  himself,  to  accomplish  any  thing 
considerable  among  them,  and  almost  all  his  efforts  were 
in  vain.  And  yet  this  man,  unable  to  succeed  as  he  was 
in  his  own  little  and  despicable  country,  and  carry  his 
plan  into  operation  to  any  great  degree,  had  strength 
of  mind  enough  to  extend  it  to  all  nations,  and  speak  of 
its  success  with  a  conviction  and  confidence,  which  ad- 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  235 

mitted  not  of  doubt  or  uncertainty.  Indeed  his  courage 
appeared  to  increase  in  proportion  to  the  difficulties  and 
hindrances  which  he  met  with,*  and  when  his  disciples  in- 
formed him,  that,  notwithstanding  his  multiplied  efforts,  he 
had  failed  to  obtain  any  victory  over  the  prejudices  of 
his  countrymen,  he  assured  them  in  the  most  positive 
manner,  that  he  would  nevertheless  found  a  church  which 
should  bid  defiance  to  the  g;ates  of  Hell  and  endure  for- 
ever, Matt.  16:  13 — 18.  What  other  man  has  ever  evin- 
ced such  resolution  in  the  midst  of  the  most  adverse  cir- 
cumstances, labored  with  such  ceaseless  activity  for  the 
accomplishment  of  an  object  to  all  appearance  unattaina- 
ble, and  yielded  such  unconditional  obedience  to  a  com- 
mand of  duty  which  bore  all  the  marks  of  being  useless 
and  extravagant  ? 

There  is  an  additional  circumstance  in  this  place  wor- 
thy of  particular  attention.  The  founder  of  Christian- 
ity knew  that  he  was  soon  to  he  seized,  and  put  to 
death.  The  activity  with  which  he  commenced  the  ex- 
ecution of  his  plan  was  to  be  interrupted,  and  that  too,  be- 
fore any  thing  considerable  had  been  accomplished.  At 
the  same  time,  he  looked  upon  death  as  the  most  fearful 
change  a  man  can  undergo,  and  was  not  ashamed  to 
exhibit  that  anxiety,  which  every  human  being  feels  on 
the  approach  of  his  dissolution.  Indeed,  he  was  very 
powerfully  afiected  with  horror,  and  very  far  removed 
from  that  indifference  to  death  and  that  defiance  of  it, 
which  was  so  much  extolled  by  the  ancients,  though  at  the 
foundation,  nothing  more  than  a  despair  under  the  appear- 
ance of  an  heroic  presence  of  mind.  Ought  not  the  cir- 
cumstance, that  he  was  soon  to  leave  human  society,  and 
the  fear  with  which  he  looked  forward  to  this  change,  to 
have  banished  from  his  mind  every  thought  respecting 
this  immense  plan,  and  have  filled  him  with  despondency  ? 
But  exactly  the  reverse  were  their  effects.  Jesus  never 
adhered  to  his  plan  with  more  firmness,  nor  felt  more  in- 
ternally convinced  that  it  would  be  carried  into  universal 

*  "  Non  est  vir  fortis  et  strenuus,  qui  laborem  fugit;  verum  vbi 
creacit  illi  animus  ipsa  rerum  difiicultate."  Seneca,  Ep.  XII. 


236  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

execution,  than  at  the  very  moment  of  his  death.  This 
moment  in  other  cases  annihilates  all  human  plans.  Here 
the  strongest  minds  relinquish  every  thing,  and  consider 
themselves  at  the  end  of  their  enterprises  and  labors.  Not 
so  with  Jesus.  He  was  most  confidently  assured  that 
what  he  had  begun  would  be  accomplished,  and  that  death 
would  not  frustrate  his  intentions.  Shortly  before  his 
passion,  a  woman  impressed  with  a  reverence  towards  him, 
poured  out  a  vase  full  of  precious  ointment  upon  him 
while  at  a  repast,  when  he  took  occasion  to  observe,  that 
he  then  stood  upon  the  borders  of  the  grave,  and  that  she 
in  so  doing,  had,  as  it  were,  embalmed  a  corpse  ;  and 
though  there  was  then  nothing  more  probable  than  that 
his  enterprises  would  perish  with  his  death,  yet  he  added, 
in  a  manner  indicative  of  the  greatest  confidence  and  the 
most  comforting  conviction,  that  his  doctrines  would  cer- 
tainly be  extended  every  where,  and  even  the  recollec- 
tion of  this  small  circumstance  be  preserved  to  the  lat- 
est generations.  Matt.  29:  12,  13.  Such  courage  and 
firmness  in  regard  to  a  plan  in  compass  and  importance, 
manifestly  the  greatest  that  can  be  conceived  of,  is  so  ex- 
traordinary, and  so  superior  to  every  thing  that  has  yet 
been  discovered  in  the  most  resolute  men,  as  to  be  alto- 
gether without  precedent. 

And  in  regard  to  it  there  is  no  room  for  any  one  to  sus- 
pect the  existence  of  enthusiasm.  Could  that  man  pos- 
sibly have  been  enthusiastic,  whose  thoughts  were  deeper, 
clearer,  stronger,  and  more  correct  than  those  of  any  oth- 
er human  mind  ?  Who,  that  is  acquainted  with  human 
nature,  can  conceive  of  enthusiasm  and  enlightened  rea- 
son's being  united  together  in  the  same  person  ?*  Enthu- 
siasts are  distinguished  for  exhibiting  a  defiance  in  view 
of  death,  a  stiff  and  unnatural  insensibility.  In  Jesus,  as 
has  already  been  observed,  we  discover  nothing  of  this. 
On  the  other  hand,  after  having  overcome  the  strong  nat- 
ural aversion  which  every  uncorrupted  man  must  feel  to 


*  Comp.  the  excellent  remarks  which   Eberhard  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  his  Amyntor  upon  this  subject,  S.  229  f. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  2S7 

death,*  he  was  so  calm,  so  attentive  to  every  thing  which 
happened  to  him,  so  circumspect  in  regard  to  every  step 
he  took,  and  so  self-collected  amid  all  the  abuses  heap- 
ed upon  him,  as  clearly  to  evince,  that  his  firmness  origi- 
nated in  rational  principles  and  a  voluntary  obedience  to 
the  calls  of  duty.  Matt.  26:  51 — 54.  "  We  may  assert," 
says  Origen,  "  that  the  mere  silence  maintained  by  Jesus, 
while  under  the  scourge,  and  amidst  the  numerous  tor- 
ments inflicted  upon  him,  displayed  more  bravery  and 
strength  in  suffering,  than  all  that  the  Grecian  heroes  ever 
said  when  in  similar  circumstances."     The  courage  there- 

*  The  suspicion  which  is  expressed  on  the  118th  page  of  Bahrdt's 
Uebersetzung  des  Neuen  Testamentes,  that  the  anxious  struggle 
which  Jesus  passed  through  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  originated  ia 
the  uncertainty  in  which  he  found  himself  as  to  the  result  of  his  ca- 
reer, is  evidently  unfounded.  He  may  even  then  have  entertained  thi 
hope  of  effecting  his  escape  in  the  night,  and  finding  an  opportunity  to 
advance  his  object  in  silence.  And  yet  he  had  often  foretold  of  his 
death,  and  only  a  few  hours  before  this  scene  of  suffering,  had  point- 
ed it  out  in  the  most  definite  manner  ;  and  he  might  even  then  have 
effected  his  escape  with  perfect  ease,  had  he  been  disposed  to  do  so. 
— He  may  not  have  expected  to  he  formally  arrested  by  the  magistrates f 
but  have  been  looking  for  a  secret  and  arbitrary  surprisal  from  his  en- 
emies. And  yet,  he  must  for  a  long  time  have  known  that  he  was  to 
be  betrayed  to  the  rulers ;  and  that  in  their  official  capacity  they 
were  ''seeking  after  his  life  ; — indeed,  while  in  Galilee,  he  had  fore- 
told, that  they  should  deliver  him  to  the  Romans  to  be  put  to  death. 
Matt.  20:  17—19.  Mark  10:  32—34.  But  for  what  purpose  is  all 
this  ?  Jesus  had  too  often  expressed  a  livincf  conviction,  that  even 
his  death  would  not  prove  in  any  respect  detrimental  to  his  great 
undertaking,  and  too  accurately  foretold  every  thing  that  was  to 
happen  to  him,  to  be  under  the  control  of  a  timid  uncertainty  respect- 
ing his  fate  at  this  time,  when  every  thing  was  taking  place  in  ex- 
act accordance  with  his  prophecies.  His  very  prayer,  O  myfather^ 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me!  affords  ample  proof  that  he 
was  at  this  time  in  certain  expectation  of  death,  though  as  the  ter- 
rific event  drew  near,  he  was  unable  entirely  to  suppress  the  feelings 
of  nature  that  arose  within  him.  And  yet  the  cup  for  whose  passing 
away  he  prayed,  was,  perhaps,  not  the  torturing  death  at  hand,  for  he 
had  evidently  formed  a  considerate  and  unchangeable  resolution  to 
submit  to  this,  but  merely  the  racking  pains  which  had  then  seized 
upon  him,  and  proceeded  more  from  the  trembling  machine  of  the 
body  than  the  infirmity  of  the  mind.  [Vid.  the  author's  Opusc. 
Acad.  11.55.  Such  is  Origen's  explanation,  De  Martyrio,  c.  29, 
and  contra  Cels.  II.  Opp.  I.  292.  410,  de  la  Rue.]  He  was  anxious 
for  the  restoration  of  his  former  undisturbed  self-possession,  in  order 
that  he^ight  be  able  to  take  the  important  step  before  hira  with  aU 


238  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

fore  which  shone  forth  from  all  his  conduct,*  and  w^is  clear- 
ly exhibited  in  his  projecting  this  great  plan,  and  what  he 
did  to  carry  it  into  execution,  is,  on  the  one  hand,  unexam- 
pled, and  exceedingly  great ;  for  no  man  ever  struggled 
with  the  burden  of  such  an  immense  undertaking;  on 
the  other,  it  was  altogether  rational,  of  the  noblest  charac- 
ter, and  perfectly  subjected  to  the  calls  of  duty ;  for  he 
manifestly  grounded  it  upon  the  conviction  that  his  was 
the  plan  of  God,  who  by  means  of  it,  intended  to  enno- 
ble mankind  and  render  them  happy,  and  that  to  give  it 
up  through  timidity  would  be  to  betray  the  cause  of  God, 
and  become  unfaithful  to  one  of  the  most  exalted  pur-^ 
poses  to  which  one  can  be  destined.  Considered  in 
this  point  of  view,  therefore,  Jesus  is  also  the  greatest  of 
men. 

§  102.  But  that  he  was  also  the  greatest  of  men  in  res- 
pect to  benevolence  and  goodness  of  heart,  is  beyond  all 
doubt.  Such  a  benevolence  as.  that  which  he  exhibited 
is  no  where  to  be  met  with  in  history.     The  most  exalted 

the  reflection  and  collection  of  mind  requisite  for  the  purpose.  Be- 
sides, the  tenderness  with  which  Jesus  loved  his  life,  and  the  deep, 
internal  susceptibility,  for  which  his  philanthropical  character  was 
in  every  respect  so  conspicuous,  afford  a  sufficient  solution  of  the 
painful  struo^gle  which  he  passed  through  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
and  give  the  spirit  and  manly  firmness  with  which  he  triumphed  over 
all  fear  of  death,  a  worth  and  greatness  with  which  the  stoical  apa- 
thy, and  fool-hardy  inconsiderateness  of  rough  men,  who,  without 
any  reflection,  rush  into  the  very  jaws  of  death,  cannot  in  any  res- 
pect be  compared.  [In  precisely  tl:e  same  way  judged  Voltaire, 
Traite  sur  la  Tolerance,  Oeuvres,  ed.  des  Deuxp.  Tom.  40.  p.  340  s. 
*'  Si  Jesus  Christ  sembla  craindre  la  mort,  si  Tangoisse  qu'il  ressentit 
fut  si  extreme,  qu'il  en  eut  une  sueur  melee  de  sang,  ce  qui  est  le 
symptome  le  plus  violent  et  le  plus  rare,  c'est  qu'il  daigna  s'  abais- 
ser  a  toute  la  faiblesse  du  corps  humain,  qu'il  avait  revetu.  Son 
corps  tremblait  et  son  ame  6tait  in6branlable ;  il  nous  apprenait,  que 
la  vraie  force,  la  vraie  grandeur  consistent  k  supporter  des  maux, 
sous  lesquels  notre  nature  succombe.  II  y  a  un  extreme  courage  k 
courir  a  la  mort  en  la  redoutant."  In  like  manner  also  Theodorus 
Mopsvest.,  Contra  Julianum  in  Fragmentis  PP.  Graecor.,ed.  MOnter, 
I.  123  J  and  the  same  remark  is  made  respecting  the  apostle  Paul  by 
Chrysostom,  Horn.  6,^  in  S.  Paulum,  0pp.  ed.  Montf  Tom.  II.  507 
seq.] 

+  Contra  Celsum,  I.  VII.  p.  369 ;  [p.  733,  de  la  Rue,]  and  Eberhard's 
Amyntor,  S.  237,  238. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  239 

Spirits  of  antiquity  were  deficient  in  nothing  so  much  as 
a  benevolent  extension  of  thought.  We  have  already  been 
compelled  to  remark,  that  the  whole  of  antiquity  was  dis- 
figured with  a  certain  want  of  humanity.  Here  we  find  the 
opposite.  .The  founder  of  Christianity  in  the  formation  of 
his'  plan  unveiled  a  goodness  of  heart,  a  philanthropical  be- 
nevolence of  boundless  extent,  and  absolutely  unique  in 
its  kind.  No  human  mind,  before  or  since,  has  approxi- 
mated so  near  to  the  Deity,' or  soared  so  near  to  his  high 
and  perfect  pattern  of  holy  goodness,  and  all  comprehen- 
sive love,  as  Jesus  did.  His  love,  like  that  of  the  great 
Creator,  which  flows  forth  in  constant  and  boundless 
streams  of  kindness  to  every  being,  flowed  forth  to  all 
mankind,  and  aimed  to  make  them  all  happy  without  ex- 
ception. Come  ye,  who  dare  despise  the  founder  of 
Christianity,  and  perhaps  even  revile  his  name,  come  gaze 
awhile  with  steady  aspect  upon  this  picture.  It  is  one 
that  should  thrill  you  with  admiration  !  The  heart  which 
you  mrsapprehend  is  the  purest,  noblest,  tenderest,  most 
benevolent,  that  ever  beat  for  the  welfare  of  others.  He 
whomyou  calumniate  and  contemn,  is  the  most  zealous, 
universal,  and  venerable  saviour  and  friend  that  can  be 
named  by  our  race.  Is  it  rational,  is  it  noble  and  just,  to 
rail  at  those  dispositions  and  feelings  which  ought  to  be 
an  object  of  the  deepest,  most  respectful  attention,  and  thie 
tenderest  emotions  of  gratitude,  even  if  unaccompanied 
with  any  results,  and  ending  in  fruidess  efforts  and  a  use- 
less exhibition  of  kindness  ? 

This  goodness  of  heart,  this  unlimited  philanthropy,  is 
also  the  chief  subject  of  his  instruction,  and  constitutes  the 
foundation  of  all  his  precepts.  No  one  can  be  called  his 
disciple,  who  has  not  advanced  so  far  in  this  benevolence, 
that  he  is  able  to  love  even  his  enemy ;  to  bless  those  who 
curse  him,  do  good  to  those  who  offend  him,  and  pray  to 
God  for  those  who  persecute  him.  The  man,  who  desires 
to  become  his  follower,  must  be  merciful  as  the  Father  in 
heaven  is  merciful,  and  exert  himself  to  extend  goodness, 
prosperity,  and  joy  around  him  on  every  side.  He  must 
spend  his  strength  for  the  welfare  of  others,  and  alleviate 


240  CHRIST*S  PLAN  PROVES  HIM 

every  human  want ;  with  his  property  feed  the  hungry,  give 
the  thirsty  drink,  and  clothe  the  naked ;  must  shed  his  blood 
in  the  cause  of  truth  and  rectitude  ;  relinquish  all  personal 
advantage  to  promote  universal  happiness  ;  sacrifice  every 
thing  to  enlighten,  improve,  and  beatify  others,  and  if  duty 
requires  it,  offer  up  his  life  for  an  ungrateful  World.  All 
this  must  every  one  be  able  to  do  who  follows  his  system 
of  instruction  ;  such  were  the  dispositions  which  he  sought 
every  where  to  awake  and  strengthen,  and  which  he  him- 
self exhibited  in  the  most  perfect  and  touching  manner. 
And  now  let  the  wise  man  be  named  whose  doctrines 
breathe  such  love ;  whose  precepts  and  actions  came  forth 
from  a  heart  of  such  enlargement,  and  originated  in  a  zeal 
so  pure  and  disinterested  in  advancing  the  cause  of  univer- 
sal happiness  and  improvement. 

And  finally,  the  life  of  Jesus ! — It  may  be  described  in 
a  few  words ;  he  went  about  doing  good.  His  zeal  to 
bring  into  circulation  the  better  information  and  knowledge 
which  he  came  to  impart,  was  unwearied.  He  denied  him- 
self every  convenience  and  comfort,  when  by  so  doing 
he  could  accomplish  any  thing  good  in  respect  to  a  single 
soul,  or  alleviate  any  sufferer  of  his  pain.  In  his  inter- 
course with  the  world  he  was  neither  dark,  morose,  nor  re- 
served. He  caused  no  one  to  feel  his  superiority  and  great- 
ness, in  a  manner  calculated  to  humble  and  depress.  Full 
of  open-hearted  friendship,  he  shared  in  festive  joys 
and  innocent  pleasures,  and  the  severity  of  his  serious- 
ness was  softened  by  a  love  of  the  mildest  character  which 
filled  every  uncorrupted  heart  with  reverence  and  confi- 
dence. According  to  the  testimony  of  history,  ail  reform- 
ers have  been  distinguished  in  their  morals  and  conduct, 
by  a  certain  inflexibility  and  hardness,  a  certain  wild  se- 
verity and  stormy  vehemence,  and  it  is  easy  to  bring  rea- 
sons to  show  why  those,  who,  under  the  influence  of  a 
kind  of  superiority,  undertook  to  renovate  the  ages  in 
which  they  lived,  and  produce  an  entire  change,  must 
have  possessed  this  irresistible  firmness,  this  decisive  and 
authoritative  energy.  Even  here,  however,  Jesus  con- 
stitutes a  remarkable  exception.     He,  the  greatest  of  all 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  241 

reformers,  was  a  man  of  the  most  gentle  manners  and  the 
mildest  habits,  and  not  a  trace  of  turbulent  zeal,  bluster- 
ing impetuosity,  and  unfeeling  severity,  is  to  be  discovered 
either  in  his  disposition  or  his  actions.  In  this  respect, 
also,  he  is  unique  and  unexampled.  For  every  thing 
whiah  he  did,  had  a  reference  to  the  welfare  of  others. 
He  was  full  of  condescension  and  meekness  towards  ev- 
ery man,  and  never  excited,  except  when  compassion  for 
the  incorrigible  drew  tears  into  his  eyes,  and  unheard  of 
wickedness  constrained  him  to  foretell  the  unhappy  con- 
sequences which  always  flow  from  the  practice  of  vice. 
And  now,  who,  that  is  acquainted  with  the  nation,  fanatical, 
rough,  vicious,  and  indocile,  towards  which  he  exhib- 
ited such  love  and  forbearance ;  who,  that  knows  the  dan- 
ger with  which  he  was  daily  threatened,  and  the  snares 
laid  with  so  much  art  to  entrap  him ;  who,  that  reflects 
upon  the  ingratitude  with  which  he  was  treated,  the  con- 
tempt with  which  his  most  benevolent  deeds  were  repel- 
led, and  the  most  honest  dispositions  and  feelings  of  his 
heart,  calumniated  ;  who,  that  calls  to  mind  the  agonies 
with  which  he  was  uhimately  put  to  death,  and  the  insult- 
ing manner  in  which  his  benevolence  was  recompensed ; — 
who,  I  say,  that  reflects  upon  all  this,  will  feel  competent 
to  measure  the  height,  the  depth,  the  length,  and  the 
breadth  of  that  love,  which  offered  itself  in  sacrifice  for  such 
a  people;  which  dissolved  in  tears  over  calamities  about 
to  come  upon  such  enemies ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  inhuman  torments  a  man  can  suffer,  when  the 
racked  spirit  always  has  enough  to  do  with  itself,  and 
forgets  all  external  objects,  could  yet  by  a  prayer  full  of 
meekness  and  pardon,  seek  to  mitigate  the  sentence  which 
divine  justice  would  unavoidably  inflict  upon  such  crim- 
inals ? 

§  1 03.  Here,  therefore,  every  thing  is  unprecedented. 
Here  we  discover  a  wisdom  which  embraced  every 
thing,  and  penetrated  through  every  thing,  as  regards  the 
human  intellect,  of  the  greatest  difficulty  and  importance ; 
a  firmness  and  strength  of  soul,  such  as  no  hero  ever  ex- 
hibited; andj  in  addition  thereto,  a  meekness  and  love 
21 


242 

which  flowed  forth  to  all,  and  aimed  to  promote  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind  at  large.  In  whom  have  these  qualities, 
each  of  which  is  sufficient  of  itself  alone  to  entitle  one  to 
the  rank  of  a  great  man,  ever  been  united  together  j  in  whom, 
to  the  degree  in  which  they  are  to  be  met  with  here  ? 
What  human  being  has  ever  possessed  them  in  that  celes- 
tial harmony  in  which  they  must  have  existed  in  Jesus,  in 
order  to  enable  him  to  devise  the  great  plan  for  which,  as 
the  founder  of  Christianity,  he  is  distinguished  ?  ,His  wis- 
dom was  not  inactive  and  dead ;  an  empty  sagacity,  which 
was  absorbed  in  subtle  speculations.  Under  the  direction 
of  benevolence,  and  a  zeal  in  the  performance  of  duty,  it 
was  actively  and  usefully  employed  in  promoting  the  gen- 
eral good.  The  fire  and  heroic  strength  of  his  soul,  how- 
ever great,  did  not  break  wildly  forth  and  excite  commo- 
tions and  wars.  Thsy  were  under  the  influence  of  wis- 
dom and  love,  and  became  a  blessing  to  the  world.  Fi- 
nally, his  love  was  not  an  effeminate  feeling,  a  good- 
natured  disposition,  perhaps  the  result  of  a  delicate 
organization  or  happy  temperament ;  on  the  other  hand, 
it  existed  in. connexion  with  the  most  enlightened  reason, 
and  the  most  manly  courage.  Should  any  one  form  a  con- 
ception of  the  highest  human  greatness^  it  must  be  admitted 
that  these  would  constitute  its  traits.  According  to  the  plan 
which  Jesus  formed  for  the  good  of  the  world,  these  qual- 
ities all  existed  in  his  soul.  He  was  therefore  unques- 
tionably the  greatest  man  that  ever  thought  and  acted 
upon 


earth.* 


III.  Jesus  an  extraordinary  teacher  sent  of 
God. 

§  104.  Now  if  we  can  shew  that  these  qualities  were 
developed  in  a  way  altogether  incomprehensible  to  us,  and 
according  to  laws  entirely  different  from  those  under 
which  great  minds  are  usually  formed ;  that  it  is  impossi- 

*  Si  quis  videt  hane  faciem,  altiorera  fulgentioremque,  quam  cer- 
ni  inter  humana  consueuit :  nonne  velut  numinis  occursu  obstupefac- 
tas  resistat,  et  vt  fas  sit  vidisse,  tacitus  precetur  ?  Seneca,  Ep.  CXV. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  243 

ble  to  see  how  the  founder  of  Christianity,  in  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  lived,  could  have  attained  to  that  ele- 
vation on  which  he  was  so  far  exalted  above  every  thing 
that  is  great  among  men,  inasmuch  as  those  circumstances 
were  directly  calculated  to  smother  the  growth  of  his  mind 
and  heart,  as  it  were,  in  the  very  bud  ;  and  finally,  that 
no  rational  explanation  can  be  given  of  this  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon, except  by  the  admission  of  a  divine  influence  in 
the  casCj  altogether  peculiar  ;  then  we  shall  be  authorized 
to  draw  the  conclusion,  that  the  founder  of  Christianity  is 
to  be  considered  as  an  extraordinary  and  divine  teacher! 
When  the  faculties  of  a  human  mind  are  said  to  develop 
themselves,  it  creates  no  astonishment.  Every  thing  is 
effected  according  to  definite  laws,  and  with  these  we 
have  been  made  acquainted  by  experience.  The  most 
excellent  powers  of  a  human  mind  may  be  suppressed,  or 
prevented  from  arriving  to  any  great  degree  of  maturity,  if 
external  circumstances  render  their  cultivation  difficult,  or 
lay  mighty  obstacles  in  its  way.  Ft  is  well  known,  that 
much  depends  upon,  in  what  nation,  at  what  time,  in  what 
region,  and  under  what  circumstances,  advantages  and  en- 
couragements, a  mind  is  reared.  A  man  of  the  most  ca- 
pable mind  will  either  remain  inactive  and  perform  noth- 
ing, or  hardly  rise  above  mediocrity,  if  he  lives  among  ig- 
norant and  barbarous  people  ;  if  these  people  are  blinded 
by  pernicious  prejudices ;  if  he  is  prohibited  by  the  state 
of  things  from  seeking  better  nourishment  for  his  intellect 
among  foreign  nations;  if  personal  circumstances  com- 
press him  and  impede  his  progress  ;  and  if  he  is  obliged 
to  struggle  at  every  step,  with  loads  of  poverty,  obscurity, 
and  contempt.  The  very  strongest  powers  are  unequal 
to  so  many  difficulties.  Confined  on  every  side,  and,  by  a 
perpetual  counteraction,  incapacitated  for  developing, 
strengthening,  and  extending  its  faculties,  the  mind  will, 
as  it  were,  prey  upon  itself,  and  never  be  able  to  produce 
any  considerable  effect.  And  admitting  that  external  dif- 
ficulties are  not  altogether  of  so  injurious  a  character; 
if  a  man  is  not  an  excellent  genius  and  by  nature  capable 
of  every  thing  that  is  great,  at  least  in  possession  of  excit* 


244  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

ing  examples,  every  kind  of  instruction,  and  teachers,  to 
impart  to  him  sound  knowledge  and  information  \  if  he  is 
left  without  guidance,  altogether  to  himself;  if  he  is  to 
draw  entirely  from  his  own  resources  and  make  his  own 
discoveries ;  if  he  is  to  remove  every  obstruction  by  his 
own  arm  and  mount  every  height  without  the  assistance 
of  a  director  ;  how  will  it  be  possible  for  him  ever  to  at- 
tain to  even  a  moderate  degree  of  perfection  ?  Under  a 
sky  so  extremely  rough,  in  a  soil  so  very  barren,  no  hu- 
man intellect  can  flourish ;  at  most,  only  that  of  the  poet 
or  the  hero  :  for  nature  alone  is  every  where  sufficient 
for  the  development  of  the  powers  which  here  come  into 
consideration  ;  and  although,  under  the  influence  of  ad- 
vantageous connexions,  a  mind  of  this  class  would  arrive 
at  a  still  greater  degree  of  perfection,  yet  from  the  past  we 
learn  that  even  barbarous  nations  have  had  courageous 
heroes  and  fiery  poets.  No  other  kind  of  greatness,  how- 
ever, is  attainable  under  such  circumstances ;  and  least  of 
all,  that  which  consists  in  a  clear  knowledge  of  truth, 
extensive  goodness  of  heart,  and  genuine,  moral  benevo- 
lence. Those  who  are  to  be  distinguished  in  this  way, 
must  not  only  possess  excellent  talents,  but  be  instruct- 
ed, allured  by  external  inducements,  carefully  cherished, 
and  wisely  directed.  What  Plutarch  has  said  upon  this 
subject  will  always  remain  true  :  that  the  best  natural 
parts  without  education,  and  labor  for  accomplishing  the 
end,  will  resemble  a  fruitful  soil,  which,  notwithstanding 
much  that  is  good  and  useful,  bears  many  poisonous 
weeds,  because  it  has  never  been  cultivated  with  dili- 
gence and  care."^ — It  is  indeed  the  character  of  a  great 
mind,  as  such,  to  break  through  by  force,  overcome  ev- 
ery difficulty,  and  press  forward  to  the  goal  of  its  destina- 
tion with  a  vehemence  which  cannot  be  retarded  or  ex- 
tinguished ;  but  -then  we  shall  always  be  able,  even  in 
this  case,  to  discover  the  way  which  it  took.  In  the  end 
we  shall  find  that  it  was  allured  onward  and  put  into  opera- 
tion by  certain  favorable  circumstances,  and  that,  notwith- 

*  In  Coriolano,  p.  214.  [Xyl.  Reisk.  Vol.  II.  86.] 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE,  ll  ^  ^  ^  3k9^  AV  D  1   1    X 

Standing  the  various  obstacles  which  appeareoSla^pre^Q'J^^  >^^ 

it  and  oppose  its  progress,  it  enjoyed  various  facilmevop= -■-^"'''''^'^^    , 

portunities,  and  helps,  by  which  it  was  sustained,  direct- 
ed, and  preserved  in  untiring  zeal.  On  the  other  hand, 
let  every  thing  combine  together  against  a  mind,  if,  never- 
theless, it  should  soar  to  a  distinguished  greatness,  it  must 
be  in  opposition  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature,  and,  of 
course,  it  must  excite  admiration. 

And  this  appears  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard  to 
the  founder  of  Christianity.  We  have  seen,  that  in  the 
formation  of  his  plan  he  exhibited  a  greatness  of  mind,  to 
be  met  with  no  where  else,  and  that  hence,  he  must  un- 
questionably be  called  the  most  extraordinary  of  men,  or 
be  treated  with  the  greatest  injustice.  If  therefore  we 
were  unacquainted  with  his  history,  we  should  suppose 
that  he  was  educated  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances, which  ever  combined  together  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  human  mind.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that 
exactly  the  reverse  is  true,  and  that  every  thing,  as  it 
were,  combined  to  crush  down  the  founder  of  Christianity 
in  all  his  eftbrts  to  rise,  and  seemed  forever  to  prohibit 
him  from  leaving  a  state  of  obscurity,  and  soaring  above 
the  great  mass  of  common  and  every-day  men. 

§  105.  Let  us  be  cautious,  however,  in  regard  to  this 
subject,  and  in  a  matter  of  such  importance,  not  draw  a 
hasty  conclusion.  Is  it  then  in  reality  as  certain  as  com- 
monly supposed,  that  the  circumstances  in  which  Jesus 
lived,  were  altogether  of  an  adverse  character  ?  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  we  are  totally  ignorant  of  Christ's 
youth.  The  credible  accounts  given  of  his  life,  by  his 
friends,  are  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  few  years  which 
he  spent  as  a  teacher  of  his  people,  and  leave  the  oc- 
currences of  his  youth  in  the  greatest  obscurity.  From 
this  lack  of  information,  however,  shall  we  be  authorized 
directly  to  infer,  that  during  the  time  of  which  so  little 
is  known,  there  was  no  favorable  combination  of  circum- 
stances, no  convenient  and  natural  way  by  means  of  which, 
divine  Providence  might  have  led  Jesus  on  to  the  attain- 
ment of  that  high  degree  of  excellence  manifest  in  his 
21* 


246 

character,  without  the  aid  of  a  miracle  ?  From  the  per- 
fect silence  of  the  Evangelists  respecting  the  early  years 
of  Jesus,  evidently,  only  thus  much  follows,  that  we  are 
unable  to  specify  the  natural  causes,  by  which  his  extra- 
ordinary faculties  were  awakened,  stimulated  and  elevated. 
This  great  deficiency  in  the  history,  does  indeed  deprive 
us  of  a  splendid  spectacle,  and  prevent  us  from  being  able 
to  follow  Jesus  with  an  exploring  glance  through  the  whole 
course  through  which  God  led  him  in  order  to  make  him 
a  teacher  of  the  world,  and  the  most  distinguished  bene- 
factor of  mankind.  But  who  w^ould  therefore  assert  that 
he  had  no  such  course,  and  that  divine  wisdom  could  not 
have  ordered  circumstances,  as  they  must  have  been,  if 
exactly  the  character  which  has  been  described,  was  to  be 
produced  according  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  the  human 
mind  ?  And  would  Jesus  be  as  deserving  of  all  our  rev- 
erence and  gratitude,  all  our  admiration  and  love  as  he  in 
reality  is,  if  God  had  made  him  what  he  was  by  a  mira- 
cle of  his  almighty  power  ?  Could  we  by  way  of  merit, 
impute  to  him  that  all  comprehensive  wisdom,  that  inimita- 
ble resolution,  that  tender  love  and  magnanimous  devo- 
tion of  himself  to  the  welfare  of  mankind,  as  we  are  in- 
clined to  do,  if  assured  that  these  excellencies  were  not 
acquired  by  his  own  exertions,  but  originated  in  the  effi- 
cacious and  irresistible  power  of  God?  Besides,  do  not 
the  authors  of  his  history  give  us  to  understand,  that  he 
was  formed  by  degrees,  and  under  a  variety  of  induce- 
ments and  favorable  circumstances,  like  any  other  man  ? 
For  what  else  can  be  the  signification  of  the  expressions, 
that  he  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature  and  in  favor  with 
God  and  man,  Luke  2:  40,  52,  than  that  his  excellent 
powers  and  talents  were  progressively  developed  and  grad- 
ually brought  into  exercise  ?  especially  so,  as  the  very 
same  modes  of  expression  are  used  of  John  the  Baptist, 
Luke  1:  80.  For  any  one  therefore  who  w^ould  give  a 
natural  account  of  the  origin  of  the  great  qualities  which  Je- 
sus possessed,  and  render  it  intelligible,  nothing  farther  ap- 
pears to  be  requisite  than  in  this  great  historical  deficien- 
cy, to  avail  himself  of  such  hints  as  have  been  preserved, 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  247 

and  ground  upon  them  a  natural  assemblage  of  causes, 
by  means  of  which,  Jesus,  in  connection  with  the  uncom- 
mon parts  of  intellect  and  heart  that  he  possessed,  must 
have  become  what  he  was.  If  such  suppositions  contain 
nothing  that  is  opposed  to  the  well  known  history  of  those 
times,  the  mode  of  thinking  then  prevalent,  the  ordinary 
course  of  events,  and  the  laws  by  which  the  human  mind 
is  governed  in  its  operations,  then  they  may  compensate  for 
the  want  of  historical  information,  supply  the  great  defects ' 
of  Christ's  history,  and  convince  us  that  there  is  no  need  of 
admitting  the  agency  of  any  J;hing  supernatural  or  mirac- 
ulous in  the  formation  of  this  wonderful  man. 

It  will  be  readily  understood,  that  I  here  use  the  words 
of  an  author,  who,  in  a  well  known  work,*  has,  of  late, 
not  only  attacked  the  idea  that  Jesus  was  educated  in  an 
uncommon  and  supernatural  way  and  the  reasons  which  I 
have  now  brought  forward  in  its  support,  but  has  presumed 
to  fabricate  a  connexion  of  circumstances  and  events  by 
which  Jesus  may  have  been  led  on  to  the  attainment  of  the 
exahed  perfections,  which,  from  the  examination  that  we 
have  given  his  great  and  benevolent  plan,  he  seems  to 
have  possessed.  It  w^ould  be  unjust  not  to  confess  that  this 
writer  has  exhibited  much  sagacity  and  excellent  talents 
in  the  manner  in  which  he  has  dressed  up  his  hypothesis, 
and  endeavored  to  procure  for  it,  the  approbation  of  his 
readers.  But  do  his  explanations  render  every  thing  so 
intelligible,  and  so  far  dispel  and  annihilate  all  appearance 
of  the  miraculous  and  extraordinary,  that  we  cannot  any 
longer  be  justified  in  going  on  to  perfect  the  conclusion  at 
which  we  were  aiming,  and  infer,  that  as  the  mind  of  Je- 
sus was  not  developed  according  to  the  laws  by  which 
minds  are  usually  governed,  he  must  have  been  made  a 
benefactor  of  mankind  by  an  uncommon  and  especial  in- 
fluence of  the  Deity  ?  I  can  not  think  so  by  any  means. 
This  is  not  the  place  indeed  for  me  to  prove  what  I  believe 
in  this  respect  in  detail,  and  enter  upon  a  close  examina- 
tion of  the  several  assertions  and  fictitious  representations 

*  Comp.  the  Briefe  Ober  die  Bibel  im  Volkston. 


248 

of  that  author.  The  few  considerations  which  follow  will 
suffice  to  show,  that  we  are  still  authorized  to  admit  the 
agency  of  such  causes  in  the  formation  of  Christ's  charac- 
ter as  cannot  be  observed  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things, 
and  justify  us  in  the  conclusion  which  we  wish  hereafter 
to  make. 

§  106.  In  the^rs^  place  then,  the  meaning  of  the  ques- 
tion of  which  I  here  speak,  is  not,  whether,  considered  in 
general,  it  is  possible  for  divine  wisdom  to  project  a  con- 
nexion of  circumstances,  and  arrange  a  series  of  natural 
causes  by  the  operation  of  which,  according  to  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  the  human  mind,  such  a  character  could  be 
developed  as  Christ's  was.  Left  in  this  indefinite  state, 
no  one  will  wish  to  deny  it;  for  who  would  not  in  gen- 
eral admit  it  to  be  possible  for  divine  wisdom  and  power  to 
operate  by  any  means  and  arrangements  which  do  not  in- 
volve a  contradiction  ?  But,  as  has  been  said,  this  is  not 
the  present  subject  of  inquiry.  The  question  before  us 
is,  whether,  considering  the  individual  circumstances  and 
relations  in  which  Jesus  lived,  ordinary  causes  could 
have  produced  as  great  effects  as  they  must  have  done, 
in  order  to  the  formation  of  his  mind.  In  the  case  before 
us,  therefore,  we  are  not  to  enter  upon  the  examination 
of  a  general  possibility,  but  the  explanation  of  a  matter  of 
fact,  which,  so  far  as  it  is  made  known  to  us  by  the  inci- 
dents related  in  history,  assumes  a  definite  form,  and 
must  be  clearly  confined  to  the  limits  affixed  to  it,  by  the 
connexion  then  actually  existing  between  things. 

It  is  farther  to  be  considered,  that  he  who  asserts  the 
agency  of  something  extraordinary,  wonderful,  supernat- 
ural, in  the  education  of  Jesus,  does  not  in  so  doing,  as- 
sume an  immediate,  and  irresistible  agency  of  God  him- 
self. What  we  call  supernatural  and  wonderful  in  this' 
case,  is  to  be  understood  of  the  mode  of  education,  and 
implies  nothing  more  than  an  unquestionable  exception  to 
what  can  be  effected  by  natural  causes,  so  far  as  we  know 
them  and  have  learned  their  power  from  experience. 
The  modest  thinker  will  never  presume  to  declare  any 
effect  of  so  extraordinary  a  character  as  necessarily  to  re- 


EXTRAORDINAllY  AND  DIVINE,  249 

quire  God  to  have  produced  it  by  his  own  immediate  op- 
erations to  the  entire  exclusion  of  mediate  causes ;  for  to 
whom  has  nature  revealed  all  her.  secrets  ?  To  whom  has 
God  unlocked  the  great  machinery  of  the  universe  ?  Who 
is  so  accurately  acquainted  with  all  its  springs,  and  has  so 
perfectly  calculated  all  its  moving  forces,  as  to  be  able 
to  say  with  regard  to  every  thing,  with  positive  certainty, 
thus  far  the  power  of  nature  extends,  and  here  her  forces 
are  exhausted  ?  Here  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  is  ap- 
parent ;  here  his  arm  produces  immediate  effects  !  For  the 
present,  therefore,  the  particular  manner  in  which  the  great 
qualities  which  make  up  the  character  of  Jesus,  were  devel- 
oped, may  be  considered  as  uncertain,  and  consequently 
it  may  be  left  undetermined,  whether  Jesus  was  formed 
directly  by  God  himself,  or  through  the  intervention  of 
secret,  and,  to  us,  unknown,  mediate  causes.  In  this  res- 
pect, every  person  may  be  left  to  investigate  for  himself, 
and  follow  his  own  convictions ;  for  who  has  a  right  to 
complain  of  any  one  for  searching  after  the  natural  means, 
which  divine  Providence  may  have  employed  in  order  to 
make  Jesus  the  greatest  benefactor  of  mankind,  provided 
he  does  it  with  becoming  modesty  and  reverence  ?  If, 
however,  such  investigations  result  in  showing,  that  all  the 
advantages  which  Jesus  actually  enjoyed,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  history,  or  may  be  supposed  to  have  enjoyed 
with  some  appearance  of  probability,  come  far  short  of 
solving  the  riddle,  how  he  could  have  attained  to  an  el- 
evation so  superior  and  unlike  to  that  of  the  greatest  men 
before  him,  then  we  shall  evidently  be  justified  in  consid- 
ering the  formation  and  perfection  of  his  great  mind  as 
something  wonderful,  and  the  unexplained  effect  of  a 
higher  wisdom  and  power. 

<5'  ^  ^'^'  ^ow  therefore  we  have  only  to  ask  whether  the 
author  quoted,  who  has  presumed  to  attempt  an  explana- 
tion of  the  entire  formation  of  Christ's  character,  by  means 
of  ordinary  causes,  has  been  able  to  discover  favorable 
circumstances  enough  in  the  connexions  of  Jesus,  to  jus- 
tify us  in  pronouncing  so  extraordinary  a  phenomenon, 
a  natural  one ; — whether,  moreover,  he  has  not  attributed 


250 

more  influence  and  power*  to  these  circumstances  than 
they  could  have  had  in  the  natural  way ; — and  finally, 
whether  he  has  been  sufficiently  candid  in  pointing  out  the 
obstacles  which  must  have  opposed  and  impeded  the  de- 
velopment of  Christ's  faculties,  and  whether  he  has  ascrib- 
ed to  them  that  counteracting  tendency  which  they  actually 
possessed.  Should  his  explanation  prove  deficient  in  only 
one  of  these  respects,  it  would  fail  to  satisfy  every  impar- 
tial inquirer  acquainted  with  the  human  mind  and  its  laws 
of  operation.  Now,  how  much  soever  attention  this  wri- 
ter has  paid  to  every  little  circumstance  of  history  which 
might  be  rendered  useful  in  support  of  his  opinion,  and 
how  much  soever  eloquence  and  art  he  has  exhibited  in 
the  fabrication  and  representation  of  his  fictions,  he  seems 
not  to  have  satisfactorily  answered  the  one  or  the  other  of 
•  these  inquiries,  but  in  reality  to  have  left  all  three  of  them 
in  an  imperfect  state. 

For  what  are  the  advantageous  inducements,  under  the 
influence  of  which,  the  mind  of  Jesus  is  said  to  have 
arisen  to  the  attainment  of  a  greatness  that  has  not  its 
like  in  history  ?  All  that  the  fertile  imagination  of  the 
author  has  been  able  to  invent  are  opportunities  to  form 
an  acquaintance  with  the  Grecian  Jews,  with  enlightened 
men  among  the  priests,  and  with  heathen  writers.*  Now 
how  many  thousands  of  excellent  geniuses  there  may 
have  been  at  the  time  of  Jesus,  who  had  all  these  oppor- 
tunities, and  might  have  used  them  with  far  more  free- 
dom and  far  less  disturbance  than  he,  and  yet  never  arose 
above  ordinary  men,  nor  once  approached  that  greatness 
to  which  Jesus  attained  ?  Can  we  consent  to  look  upon 
such  common  and  ordinary  causes  as  sufficient  for  the 
production  of  an  effect  which  is  altogether  uncommon, 
and  in  its  kind,  unique  and  unexampled  ?  The  author 
would  have  had  trouble  enough  in  accounting  for  the  ori- 
gin of  the  extraordinary  perfections  which  Jesus  possess- 
ed, in  an  intelligible  manner,  with  ample  permission  to 
give  him  a  better  country,  locate  him  among  an  enlighten- 

^  Vid.  S.  335,  of  tho  letters  above  quoted. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  251 

ed  people,  and  bring  all  the  most  favorable  circumstances 
at  once  to  bear  upon  him,  which  ever  combined  together 
for  the  production  of  a  human  mind  ;  and  shall  we  be 
persuaded  to  believe  that  these  few,  and  in  every  respect, 
common  advantages  are  sufficient  for  the  purpose  ?  If 
for  a  moment  we  suppose  so,  it  is  evident  that  the  author, 
ill  bringing  the  mind  of  Jesus  to  the  perfection  which  un- 
der the  influence  of  these  causes,  it  is  said  to  have  ob- 
tained, must  cause  it  to  have  taken  such  huge  steps  in  its 
progress,  as  with  all  his  pretended  explanations,  to  leave 
the  thing  involved  in  all  the  incomprehensibility  and  won- 
derfulness  which  he  intended  to  remove  or  avoid. 

But  are  the  circumstances  to  which  he  alludes  and  at- 
tributes so  much  power  in  the  formation  of  Christ's  char- 
acter, historically  considered,  in  reality  so  probable,  that 
we  can  admit  them  as  causes  to  have  had  an  agency  in 
this  important  affair  ?  No  one  will  think  of  denying  the 
possibility  of  Christ's  having  been  acquainted  and  familiar 
with  the  Grecian,  and  especially  the  Egyptian  Jews.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  however,  that  in  the  credible  ac- 
counts left  us  of  his  life,  not  the  least  trace  of  such  ac- 
quaintance is  any  where  to  be  met  with,  and  that  Jesus 
intentionally  avoided  intercourse  with  the  Grecian  Jews, 
the  only  time  in  which  we  are  informed,  John  12:  20  seqq. 
of  their  ever  having  evinced  a  desire  to  speak  with  him. 
Besides,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  what  Jesus  could  have  gain- 
ed by  such  intercourse.  However  flourishing  the  condi- 
tion of  learning  at  Alexandria  under  the  Ptolemies,  the 
form  and  character  which  it  had  assumed  there,  would 
have  led  Jesus  directly  away  from  what  he  was,  and  was 
to  become.  According  to  the  testimony  of  history,  the 
Alexandrian  scholars  were  characterized  by  a  love  for  a 
useless  polymathy,  a  laborious  diligence  in  learned  play- 
work,  a  taste  for  close  and  subtile  meditations,  an  inclina- 
tion for  a  mystical  philosophy  wrapt  up  in  enthusiasm  and 
superstition,  a  kind  of  disposition  for  trifles,  and  a  deci- 
ded propensity  for  a  life  of  idleness,  and  voluptuous 
ease.*     Jesus,  therefore,  must  have  favored  these  things, 

*  Vid.  Heyne's  treatise,  De  genio  seculi  Ptolemaeorum,  in  the 


252  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

had  he  received  his  edupation  from  Alexandrian  teach- 
ers. But  in  this  way  would  he  not  have  been  made  ex- 
actly the  reverse  of  what  he  was,  and  was  to  become  ? 
And  with  what  degree  of  probability  can  we  suppose 
that  there  were  men  among  the  Jewish  priests  of  that  age 
who  could  have  contributed  any  thing  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  such  a  mind  as  Christ's  was  ?  They  were  either 
Pharisees,  Sadducees,  or  ignorant,  sacrificing  priests.  Now 
it  is  well  known  how  much  the  doctrines  and  designs  of 
Jesus  were  opposed  to  the  main  positions  of  these  parties, 
how  much  he  differed  from  them  in  his  fundamental 
views,  and  how  useless  it  is  to  examine  him  in  order  to 
find  the  least  trace  of  that  influence  which  their  instruc- 
tion may  have  left  in  his  mind.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not 
deny  that  there  may  have  been  many  excellent,  thinking 
men,  among  this  great  multitude  of  priests,  who  were 
free  from  many  pernicious  prejudices.  But  how  did  the 
poor  and  lowly  Jesus,  blessed  with  few  favorable  con- 
nexions, happen  to  light  upon  these  choice  and  excellent 
men,  who,  if  he  ever  found  them,  could  not  have  led 
him  to  a  point  beyond  that  at  which  they  themselves 
had  arrived,  and  hence,  were  unable  to  say  any  thing  to 
him  respecting  the  chief  matter  of  his  great  plan  ? 
That  Jesus  could  not  have  been  indebted  to  the  Essenes 
in  any  respect  for  his  education,  admitting  it  possible  for 
him  to  have  been  led  astray  by  them,  is  proved  beyond 
question  by  the  fact,  that  the  recluse  principles  of  this 
party  and  his  plan  were  directly  at  variance.*  And  that 
no  one  can  resort  in  this  case  to  a  secret  society  of  wise 
men  which  may  have  existed  and  in  whose  bosom  and 
by  whose  aid  and  support,*  Jesus  may  have  found  access 
to  sources  of  knowledge  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  has  already  been  shown  so  clearly  as  hardly  to 

Opusc.  acad.,  T.  I.  76—134.  [Neander's  K.  G.,  1. 1.  CO— 87.  Strauss's 
Helons  Wallfahrt  nach  Jerusalem,  Elberfeld,  4  Bde.  1820  fF.,  also  con- 
tains much  that  is  excellent  relative  to  this  subject;}  {Helon's  Pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem.  A  Picture  of  Judaism  in  the  Centurj  which 
preceded  the  advent  of  our  Saviour.  Translated  from  the  German 
of  F.  Strauss,  in  2  Vols.,  Boston,  1825.    Tr.] 

*  With  what  is  here  said  and  that  also  on  pp.  89,  00,  respecting 
the  Essenes,  compare  Appendix  E. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  253 

admit  of  a  doubt.  We  have  seen  that  not  the  least  trace 
of  any  thing  of  the  kind  is  to  be  discovered  in  all  his- 
tory. 

Finally,  books  of  heathen  writers  may  possibly  have 
been  found  in  Galilee,  as  many  of  the  heathen  lived  in  that 
region.  Here  our  author,  owing  to  the  scarcity  and  cost- 
liness of  manuscripts  in  that  age,  is  much  troubled  to  get 
these  books  into  the  hands  of  the  poor  Jesus.  Admit, 
however,  that  he  procured  them  of  a  rich  Alexandrian 
friend  ;  how  could  he  have  read  and  usfed  them  ?  This 
is  a  difficulty  at  which  the  author,  like  many  others,  has 
not  even  glanced.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  a  Jew  could 
learn  the  Hellenistic  Greek  in  Palestine  in  common  life. 
Admit  that  Jesus  understood  it,  would  that  have  been  suffi- 
cient for  understanding  the  elegant  philosophical  writings  of 
Grecian  antiquity  ?  Does  a  man,  in  order  to  read  Plato 
to  advantage,  need  nothing  more  than  a  knowledge  of  the 
corrupt  Greek  of  the  Alexandrian  Jews  ?*  And  how  is 
it  possible,  if  this  reading  contributed,  so  very  much  to 
the  formation  of  Christ's  mind,  as  the  author  would  have 
us  suppose,  that  not  the  least  trace  of  it  should  be  dis- 
covered in  his  discourses,  the  dress  of  his  thoughts,  and 
his  entire  mode  of  teaching  ?  Why  are  all  his  instruc- 
tions clothed  in  the  drapery  of  Jewish  images  and  modes 
of  representation,  and  every  thing  so  far  removed  from 
the  Grecian  urbanity  and  style  of  thinking,  as  to  leave  no 
one  any  room  to  suspect  that  he  was  ever  a  pupil  of  the 
Grecian  sages  ? 

§  108.  If,  however,  all  the  suppositions  of  the  author 
be  conceded,  it  may  be  asked,  whether  he  does  not  im- 
pute too  much  influence  to  these  favorable  circumstances, 
and  from  them  draw  greater  effects  than  they  would  nat- 
urally have  produced  ?  It  might  be  shown  with  perfect 
clearness,  were  this  the  place  to  do  so,  that  this  is  an  er- 
ror which  prevails  throughout  the  explanation  which  he 


*  There  were  persons  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era, 
who  believed  that  Jesus  read  and  made  use  of  Plato.  Augustin, 
De  Doctr.  Christiana,  1.  II.  c.  28.  §  43. 

22 


254  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

has  given  of  the  natural  development  of  Christ's  mind. 
Consider,  for  instance,  the  causes  which  are  pretended  to 
have  matured  Christ's  education  before  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  then  say,  whether  the  trifles  fabricated 
by  the  author  could  have  led  Jesus  on  to  the  attainment 
of  that  knowledge  and  extensive  philosophical  sagacity, 
which  he  is  said  to  have  exhibited  at  that  period  of  life 
in  his  dialogues  with  the  priests  in  the  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem. Consider  whether  what  Jesus  is  intimated  to  have 
said  on  this  occasion  respecting  divine  miracles  and  reve- 
lations, on  the  supposition  of  its  being  altogether  true,  is 
agreeable  to  the  mode  of  thinking  which  prevailed  among 
the  ancients ;  who,  even  when  most  enlightened,  had  a 
great  inclination  for  the  marvellous.  Whence,  then 
could  Jesus  have  learned  ^hose  assertions,  which  are 
opposed  to  the  whole  spirit  of  antiquity,  and  mani- 
festly bear  the  impress  of  the  last  half  of  our  own  cen- 
tury, and  what  intelligible  account  can  be  given  of  the 
manner  in  which  during  the  few  preceding  years  of  his 
life,  he  acquired  this  information  ? 

There  is  a  single  additional  remark,  sufijcient  to  show 
that  the  author  has  in  every  instance  attributed  too  much 
to  the  natural  causes  which  are  said  to  have  effected 
Christ's  education.  All  the  new  light,  with  which,  ac- 
cording to  history,  our  world  has  been  blessed  since  the 
origin  and  extension  of  Christianity,  and  every  thing  pe- 
culiar to  Christ's  plan,  to  us  indeed,  aided  by  the  age  and 
experience  of  many  centuries,  very  clear  and  intelligible ; 
all  those  excellent  views  and  that  religious  knowledge,  so 
fertile  in  valuable  results,  and  for  which  we  are  indebted 
to  Christianity  and  its  founder,  are  here  ascribed  to  Per- 
sians, Alexandrian  Jews,  and  a  few  priests  at  Jerusalem, 
of  whom,  we  are  told,  Jesus  could  have  learnt  them,  and 
by  whom  he  must  have  been  instructed.  Can  an  explana- 
tion which  involves  such  palpable  confusion  of  ages,  and 
those  convictions  of  truth  demonstrably  peculiar  to  each 
period,  be  considered  as  legitimate  and  valid  ?  If  one  may 
treat  the  merits  of  great  men  as  recorded  in  history  in  so 
capricious  a  manner,  it  will  cost  but  little  trouble  to  rob 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  265 

every  benefactor  of  mankind,  who  has  discovered  any- 
thing useful  and  added  to  the  amount  of  human  know- 
ledge, of  all  the  honor  and  renown  to  which  he  is  enti- 
tled. One  has  only  to  attribute  what  was  his,  to  his 
teachers  and  contemporaries,  and  announce  that  he 
acquired  it  of  them,  and  the  riddle  is  solved.  But 
shall  that  which  would  be  palpable  ignorance,  or  man*- 
ifest  injustice,  if  practised  upon  any  meritorious  man 
in  history,  be  looked  upon  in  any  other  point  of  view, 
w^hen  practised  upon  the  founder  of  Christianity  ?  Are 
we  not  under  the  same  obligations  to  be  cautious  and  im- 
partially just  in  regard  to  his  history,  that  we  are  in  re- 
gard to  any  other  ? 

§  109.  And,  finally,  how  striking  it  is,  that  the  author 
has  passed  over  in  silence,  all  the  hindrances  and  difficul- 
ties, which  must  have  obstructed  the  development  of 
Christ's  powers  in  the  natural  way.  These  obstacles,  as  I 
shall  show  directly,  are  not  conjectures  nor  ingenious  fic- 
tions, but  matters  of  fact  which  lie  upon  the  very  face  of 
history.  Now  who  does  not  know  that  he  who  undertakes 
from  a  certain  concourse  of  external  circumstances  and 
a  definite  series  of  changes,  to  give  an  explanation  of  the 
manner  in  which  a  human  mind  became  exactly  what  it 
was,  is  bound  to  look  at  the  unfavorable  circumstances  as 
well  as  the  favorable,  and  form  a  due  comparative  estimate 
of  the  counteracting  effects  of  each  ?  Of  course,  he  who 
adduces  only  one  of  the  two  kinds,  and  by  means  of  fic- 
tions and  additions,  even  multiplies  and  augments  it 
beyond  bounds,  will  fail  to  give  such  a  practical  history 
of  a  human  mind  as  a  psychologist  expects,  and  at  most 
write  nothing  more  than  an  agreeable  romance.  This 
remark  is  of  especial  importance  in  regard  to  the  history 
of  Jesus.  The  obstacles  which  opposed  his  cultivation  in 
the  natural  way  and  must  have  almost  entirely  frustra- 
ted it,  are  historically  certain,  and  perfectly  evident. 
Those  which  are  said  to  have  favored  it  consist  of  possi- 
bilities and  conjectures  which  have  by  no  means  all  that 
probability  desirable  in  an  affair  of  such  importance. 
Now  is  it  compatible  with  the  conscientiousness  of  a  his- 


256  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

torian  and  the  integrity  of  a  philosophical  investigator  in 
answering  the  question,  how  and  by  what  causes  Jesus 
may  have  been  made  what  he  was,  to  reject  historical 
certainty,  substitute  fictitious  data  in  its  stead,  and  erect 
bold  explanations  upon  a  foundation  so  weak  ?  The  cir- 
cumstances in  which,  according  to  unquestionable  histor- 
cal  testimony,  Jesus  actually  spent  his  youth,  render  it 
impossible  for  us  to  conceive  how  he  could  have  acquir- 
ed those  uncommon  perfections  which  we  have  deduced 
from  his  plan,  or  have  become  the  greatest  of  men,  if 
God,  with  the  intention  of  making  him  the  means  of  hap- 
piness to  the  world,  did  not  afford  him  extraordinary 
assistance. 

There  is  no  need  of  fearing  that  the  admission  of  his 
having  received  such  assistance,  will  be  prejudicial  to  the 
meritoriousness  of  his  great  qualities.  His  history  in- 
forms us  that  while  his  great  talents  were  developed  by 
degrees,  it  was  accompanied  with  a  wise  and  free  use  of 
his  own  powers.  This  is  what  Luke  means  when  he 
says,  that  Jesus  increased  in  wisdom,  stature,  and  grace. 
Admitting  this  to  be  correct,  it  follows  of  course,  that 
he  was  not  a  mere  passive  instrument  by  which  the  Al- 
mighty power  of  God  produced  its  irresistible  effects. 
The  voluntary  use  that  he  made  of  the  supernatural  ad- 
vantages which  he  enjoyed,  in  whatever  they  may  have 
consisted,  secure  him  sufficiently  against  this  objection. 
The  fact,  however,  that  these  advantages  were  supernat- 
ural, can  no  more  diminish  the  moral  worth  of  his  great 
qualities,  than  it  can  be  deemed  an  objection  to  another 
great  man,  that  he  arose  to  a  certain  degree  of  excel- 
lence hy  the  diligent  use  of  ordinary  advantages.  Nor 
can  the  assertion  that  Jesus  received  extraordinary  assis- 
tance from  God,  prove  in  any  respect  prejudicial  to  his 
character,  until  it  be  shown,  that  in  conjunction  with  this, 
he  only  arrived  at  the  goal,  to  which  even  other  great 
men  have' attained.  So  extraordinary,  however,  are  his 
excellencies,  and  so  manifest  and  great  is  the  distance 
which  exists  between  him  and  the  most  exalted  of  men, 
that,  notwithstanding  the  various  obstacles  which  external 


extraohdinary  axd  divine.  257 

Circumstances* opposed  to  his  progress,  he  must  have  em- 
ployed the  uncommon  aid  by  which  he  was  educated 
and  sustained,  in  a  manner  which  does  him  the  greatest 
credit.* 

It  is  time,  however,  for  me  to  show,  that  Jesus  actual- 
ly received  such  divine  assistance,  and  without  it,  situat- 
ed as  he  was,  could  never  have  become,  what,  judging 
from  his  great  plan,  he  in  reality  did. 

§  110.  By  what  means  could  that  d6ep  and  penetrat- 
ing wisdom  have  been  produced  in  him  which  is  unques- 
tionably exhibited  in  his  plan?  He  lived  among  a  people, 
who  were  then  given  up  to  the  most  senseless  superstition, 
and  did  not  even  know  how  lo  make  a  proper  use  of  the 
excellent  instruction  respecting  God  and  genuine  virtue, 
which  they  possessed  in  their  sacred  books.  He  was  brought 
up  in  a  region  which  was  known  even  among  these  rude 
and  ignorant  people,  as  one  of  the  roughest  and  most 
obscure.  Judging  from  the  circumstances,  therefore,  he 
received  no  instruction  which  could  have  served  for  the 
express  development  of  his  faculties.  Neither  did  he 
ever  go  out  of  his  country  for  the  purpose,  for  the  jour- 
ney which  he  vi^as  compelled  to  make  into  Egypt,  when 
a  child,  could  not  have  contributed  any  thing  to  his  for- 
mation in  this  respect.  Hence,  he  never  experienced  the 
benefits  which  the  arts  and  sciences  are  able  to  confer 
upon  the  human  mind.  In  general,  during  the  first  thirty 
years  of  his  life  he  can  have  displayed   nothing  which 

*  [The  objection  to  the  immediate  relation  in  which  Jesus  stood 
to  God,  to  which  an  answer  is  here  given,  has  also  been  made  in  a 
similar  way  in  Bahrdt's  Briefe  Uber  die  Bibel,  Jahrg.  II.  S.  3  ff. ; 
also  in  his  Ausfilrung  des  Plans  und  Zwecks  Jesu,  VII.  S.  5  ff,  and 
Briefe  Uber  den  Rationalismus,  S.  377ff.  On  the  other  side,  how- 
ever, in  addition  to  Felix  Hess  in  Lavator's  miscellaneous  writinors, 
Winierth.  1775.  I.  no — 113,  particularly  worthy  of  comparison  is 
J.  F.  Flatt,  Bemerkungen  aber  das  Beyspiel  Jesu.  A  contri- 
bution to  the  proof  of  the  position  :  "  can  Jesus,  notwithstanding 
his  extraordinary  faculties,  be  looked  upon  as  an  example  for  us  .?  " 
in  the  ^agazin  fUr  Christl.  Dogm.  I.  170—200.  ;  where,  S.  188  ff.  it 
is  shown  in  a  striking  manner,  that  those  very  faculties  contributed 
to  increase  the  difficulties  which  stood  in  the  way  of  Christ's  per- 
forming his  duties,  and  enduring  the  sufferings  before  him.] 

22* 


258  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

distinguished  him  in  any  respect  from  ordinary  men, 
appeared  at  all  striking,  or  'attracted  the  attention  of 
his  fellow  citizens  ;  for  they  did  not  begin  decidedly 
to  oppose  him  until  he  had  acquired  some  celebrity 
in  Jerusalem  by  his  mighty  works,  John  4:  45.  Ac- 
cordingly he  not  only  lived  among  the  lowest  ranks,  but 
he  even  spent  his  youth  in  obscurity  and  an  employment, 
which,  while  it  afforded  no  nourishment  for  his  mind,  was 
calculated  to  depress  him  and  sink  him  down  in  perni- 
cious indolence  and  despondency.  His  fellow  citizens 
were  perfectly  aware  of  this,  and  knowing  that  he  had 
enjoyed  no  means  whatever  either  in  respect  to  education 
or  society  for  the  development  of  his  mental  faculties, 
were  struck  with  his  wisdom,  and  looked  upon  it  as  alto- 
gether incomprehensible,  John  7:  1 5. 

If  under  such  circumstances  he  had  accomplished  only 
as  much  as  the  greatest  philosophers  of  Greece,  it  would 
have  seemed  to  be  something  impossible ;  for  they  were 
blessed  with  a  thousand  advantages  in  regard  to  their  ex- 
ternal circumstances.  They  often  enjoyed  the  instruc- 
tion of  sagacious  teachers,  for  several  years  in  succes- 
sion ;  they  passed  their  lives  in  investigation  and  reflec- 
tion, and  lived  among  nations  by  whom  the  sciences 
were  highly  cultivated,  and  a  love  of  wisdom  was  honoured, 
encouraged,  and  rewarded.  Of  all  this,  the  founder  of 
Christianity  was  entirely  destitute.  He  would,  therefore, 
have  been  far  greater  than  all  the  philosophers  of  antiqui- 
ty, if  he  had  accomplished  only  as  much  as  they.  But 
he  unquestionably  did  more.  His  wisdom  was  not  only 
purer  and  more  exalted  but  more  enlightened  and  useful. 
The  divine  truths  which  he  undertook  to  spread,  were 
scarcely  seen  by  them  at  a  distance  or  obscurely  hinted 
at.  He  resolved  to  impart  to  the  world  a  system  of 
truths,  which,  human  reason,  notwithstanding  the  centu- 
ries which  it  has  had  for  reflection,  the  numerous  inves- 
tigations which  it  has  gone  through  with,  and  the  great 
progress  which  it  has  made  in  every  respect,  is  still  oblig- 
ed to  recognise  as  the  best,  surest,  and  most  useful  that 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  259 

can  be  uttered  respecting  the  most  important  concerns  of 
man,  his  relation  to  his  creator,  and  his  destination.* 

Nothing  in  this  respect  is  more  worthy  of  attention 
than  his  morality.  The  most  sagacious  geniuses  of  anti- 
quity had  reflected  upon,  investigated,  and  discussed,  the 
chief  principles  of  morality ;  had  furnished  themselves 
with  all  the  means  of  knowledge  then  extant,  and  labor- 
ed oftener  and  with  more  diligence  upon  ethics  than  any 
other  branch  of  human  science ;  and  had  apparently  ex- 
hausted the  subject,  so  that  nothing  new  or  important 
could  be  added  to  what  had  already  been  said.  And 
yet  with  all  their  efforts  they  had  failed  to  represent  mo- 
rality in  its  true,  divine  dignity,  to  perceive  the  beautiful 
relation  which  it  sustains  to  religion,  and  to  give  it  that 
intelligibility,  warmth,  and  power  which  it  must  have,  in 
order  to  be  useful  to  all  without  exception.  Without  receiv- 
ing instruction  from  any  one  or  being  acquainted  with  the 
investigations  of  philosophers,  and  in  a  country  where  the 
most  incorrect  notions  prevailed  respecting  morality,  Je- 
sus thus  exhibited  it.f  With  a  simplicity,  brevity  and 
distinctness,  adapted  to  the  most  unskilful  of  his  hearers, 
he  gave  instruction  respecting  the  destination  and  obliga- 
tions of  men,  of  a  far  more  exalted  character  than  the 
most  sagacious  philosophers  had  ever  produced.  Is  it 
possible  to  comprehend  how  this  was  effected  ?  how 
he,  who  was  destitute  of  every  thing,  calculated  to  lead  on 
to  new  discoveries  in  the  kingdom  of  truth,  was  able  to 
g,  perform  more  than  the  most  excellent  geniuses  before 
j|\  him,  with  all  the  advantages  by  which  they  were  sur- 
1      rounded  ? 

|-  _ — ^ . . __ 

*  Comp.  Origen,  Contra  Cels.  1.  1.  §  29.  p.  347.  [Where  he  makes 
precisely  the  same  remarks.] 

t  "  Sparte  etoit  sobre,  avantque  Socrate  eut  loue  la  sobriete  :  avant 
qu'il  eftt  defini  la  vertu,  la  Grcce  abondoit  en  hommes  vertueux. 
Mais  ou  Jesus  avoit-il  pris  chez  les  siens  cette  morale  elevee  et  pure, 
dont  lui  seul  a  donne  les  le9ons  et  I'exemple  ?  Du  sein  du  plus  fu- 
rieux  fanatisme  la  plus  haute  sagesse  se  fit  entendre,  et  la  simplici- 
te  des  plus  heroiques  vertus  honora  le  plus  vil  de  tons  les  peuples." 
Rousseau,  Emile,  Liv.  IV,  p.  99.  Bip.  ed.  [of  the  edition  which  has 
been  quoted,  Tom.  IX.  116.] 


260 

His  very  conduct  in  the  delivery  of  the  truths  which  he 
wished  to  extend,   is  worthy  of  the  greatest  attention. 
His  mode  of  teaching,  especially  the  manner  in  which  he 
proceeded  with  his  intimate  disciples  in  this  respect,  is  so 
wise,    considerate,   and   thoroughly   adapted  to  the  cir- 
cumstances which  he  met  with,  that  the  more  one  is  able 
to  throw  himself  back  into  those  relations  in  which  Jesus 
lived  and  acted,  the  more  perfect  it  appears.     It  was  so 
very  peculiar  however,  and  formed  so  little  after  any  known 
pattern,  that  it  is  apparent  he  in  this  respect  took  his  own 
course,  without  having  received  any  direction  from  others. 
Must  we  not  especially  admire  the  wisdom  and  deep  pene- 
tration with  which  he  avoided  the  two  errors  into  which  all 
those  before  him  fell,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  who  at- 
tempted to  spread  certain  doctrines  and  aimed  to  bring 
them  into  general  circulation, — those  of  pother  and  inviola" 
hie  secrecy  ?  The  way  of  free,  undisguised,  rational  instruc- 
tion, was  manifestly  the  only  correct  one ;  that,  in  which  the 
genuine  illumination  and  universal  reformation  of  mankind 
could  be  the  most  securely  effected.      And  this  was  the 
way  that  Jesus  chose.  In  this  respect  also,  he  is  most  advan- 
tageously distinguished  from  all  the  sages  who  ever  pre- 
ceded him.    Let  no  one  think  however  that  this  is  a  trifle. 
Has  not  experience  shown  how  difficult  it   is  for  a  human 
mind  when  it  is  zealously  enlisted  in  favor  of  certain  doc- 
trines, to  adhere  to  this  only  correct  path  ?     Did  not  even 
the  followers  of  Jesus  depart  from  it  soon  after  the  times 
of  the  apostles,   and  are  not  mankind  at  present  weak 
enough  to  call  in,  sometimes  compulsory  laws,  at  others, 
secret  institutions,  to  aid  the  progress  of  truth  ?     How 
shall  we  explain  the  fact  that  Jesus   alone  deviated   fiom 
this  universal  custom,  and  in  this  respect  also  stood  alone  ? 
But  what  surpasses  every  thing  which  has  hitherto  been 
said,  and  must  fill  every  reflecting  mind  with  astonishment, 
is  the  fact,  that  Jesus  had  a  conception  of  his  great  and 
comprehensive  plan,  as  early  as  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his 
age.     This  is  perfectly  evident  from  the  answer  which  he 
gave  his  parents,  when,  having  missed  him  on  their  way  to 
Galilee,  and  turned  back  again,  they  found  him  in  the 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  261 

temple  at  Jerusalem  among  the  teachers  of  the  people : 
Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  father^ s  business  ^ 
Luke  2: 49.  Whatever  explanation  we  give  to  these  words, 
at  the  bottom,  they  evidently  contain  the  idea,  that  this  lad 
of  twelve  years  of  age  even  then  felt  himself  destined  for 
the  great  religious  reformer,  which  he  afterwards  became  ; 
that  even  then  he  had  a  conviction  that  he  had  been  born 
for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a  benevolent  change  on  earth 
in  conformity  to  the  decrees  of  God.*     For  even  at  a 

*  [This  interpretation  and  application  of  that  passage  has  been  at- 
tacked in  Rohr's  Briefe  tlber  den  Rationalismus,  S.  187,  with 
which  corap.  162.  "  Reinhard"  says  he  in  the  place  quoted,  "  to  an 
expression  which  unbiassed  interpreters  look  upon,  as  the  expression 
of  a  childish,  but  deep  religious  feeling,  appears  in  reality  to  have 
attributed  an  idea  respecting  Jesus  which  was  drawn  from  the  lat- 
ter years  of  hisUife,  or  in  other  words,  from  the  result.  'Its  meaning,' 
Bays  Michaelis  in  his  note  upon  the  passage,  '  is ;  I  am  in  the  tem- 
ple, in  the  house  of  God,  that  is,  properly  speaking,  at  home.  Why 
did  you  not  seek  for  me  here  ?'  Admit  that  the  phrase,  iv  roig  rov 
TcaxQog  iiov,  designates  the  house  of  God,  the  temple,  even  then  there 
are  two  things  to  be  attended  to,  upon  which  its  literal  impression 
depends;  (1)  the  words,  rov  Ttarqog  fiov,  which  are  evidently  oppos- 
ed to  the  words  of  Mary,  thy  father  and  I,  ^c.  and  by  which,  in  or-* 
der  to  correct  this  expression,  Jesus  reminded  Mary  of  the  Being 
whom  alone  he  recofjnised  as  his  father;  whence  of  course,  it  fol- 
lows, that  in  this  place,  he  expresses  a  clear  and  full  conscious- 
ness of  his  sustaining  a  higher  relation  to  God,  than  mankind  in  gen- 
eral ;  (2)  the  words,  Sei  iivai  /ts,  which  point  to  a  feeling  of  duty, 
and  a  consciousness  of  having  received  a  far  more  important  call 
to  engage  in  divine  affairs  than  one  can  expect  to  meet  with,  ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  in  a  youth  of  twelve  years  of 
age. — Gabler  in  the  Neueste  Theolog.  Journal,  (1799)  III.  99,  ac- 
knowledges, *  that  this  passage,  if  one  is  disposed  to  rely  upon  a 
single,  definite  expression,  preserved  by  Luke  respecting  the  histo- 
ry of  Christ's  youth,  in  reality  affords  very  decisive  evidence,  that 
he  was  under  an  uncommon  divine  influence,  and  felt  himself,  even 
when  in  his  boyhood  and  amidst  very  unfavorable  circumstances, 
to  be  destined  to  become  a  religious  reformer.  How  easily,'  contin- 
ues he, '  might  expressions  have  been  transferred  from  the  discourses 
which  Jesus  afterwards  delivered, — when  a  man — to  the  history 
of  his  youth  ; — expressions  which  in  some  respects  actually  resem- 
bled those  that  he  made  use  of,  when  a  lad  !  For  instance,  in  his 
reply  to  what  his  parents  objected  to  his  conduct,  had  he  said ;  *  Do 
I  act  improperly  by  tarrying  in  Jehovah's  temple  ?'  how  easily 
might  this  expression  have  been  transformed  into  phraseology  after- 
wards used  in  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office,  thus ;  '  Must  I 
not  be  in  the  house  of  my  father  ?'  (iv  toi.g  rov  naxQog  iiov  Set  iivai 
/*£,)  and  yet  that  expression  by  no  means  contain  all  that  this  is  sup. 


263  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

later  period  of  life,  when  his  mind  was  unquestionably  fil- 
led with  the  great  plan,  which  we  have  considered,  he  ex- 
posed to  signify." — What  other  reason,  however,  is  there,  for  ques- 
tioning the  credibility  of  this  part  of  Luke's  account,  than  an  imwil- 
lingness  to  admit  that  he  says  any  thing  implying  that  Jesus  exhib- 
ited a  wonderful  and  premature  greatness  of  mind  ?  If  this  principle 
be  adopted,  every  one  will  be  justified  in  capriciously  degrading  all 
that  is  great  and  sacred  in  the  community  in  which  he  resides. 
Did  not  Luke  know  well  from  what  source  he  had  received  his  ac- 
count? Luke  1:  3,  4.  Mary  carefully  preserved  the  words  spoken 
to  her,  without  forgetting  them,  though  she  did  not  understand  their 
full  impart  until  sometime  afterwards.  But  in  what  respect  could 
these  words  have  proved  enigmatical  to  her  and  Joseph,  or  in  general, 
appeared  attracting  and  worthy  of  being  preserved,  had  Jesus  inten- 
ded nothing  more  than  to  say  :  "  Is  it  improper  for  me  to  remain  in 
the  temple  ?"  At  any  rate,  if  this  and  other  accounts  are  made  up  of 
fictions,  whence  comes  it  that  the  fictions  of  the  Gospels  are  so  spir- 
itual and  dignified,  while  the  fictions  of  the  Apocraphy  are  so  spirit- 
less as  immediately  to  betray  their  spurious  character  ?  The  words  of 
Hern.  v.  Meyer  may  here  be  adduced  as  a  counterpart  of  the  prece- 
ding quotation,  Ehrenfrieds  Lehrabende,  Erste  Fortsetzung,  Ft.  a. 
M.,  1808.,  S.  45—48.  "  The  period  in  which  Christ  made  himself 
known  may  be  distinguished  by  three  epochs.  The  firsts  is  his 
birth,  which  was  celebrated  by  prophets,  wise  men,  and  a  choir  of  an- 
gels ;  the  second,  his  appearance  in  the  temple,  when  a  boy  of  twelve 
years  of  age  ;  the  third,  his  entrance  upon  his  ministry  as  a  divine 
messenger,  sustained  in  this  character  by  the  greatest  power  to  work 
miracles.  The  first  ushered  in  the  kingdom  of  God  with  a  prelude ; 
the  second,  though  in  itself  considered,  an  epoch  worthy  of  particular 
attention,  was  a  prelude  to  the  third. — Jesus  was  twelve  years  of  age, 
when  the  heavenly  flower  of  his  wisdom  unfolded  itself.  Here  was 
a  case  in  which  instruction  from  others  was  superfluous,  for  he  was 
already  acquainted  with  himself  and  his  destination  !  '  Wist  ye  not,' 
said  he,  'that  I  must  be  about  my  father's  business  V  No  lad  of  twelve 
years  of  age  could  have  spoken  thus,  without  being  the  Messiah,  and 
knowing  it.  To  all  others  these  words  were  unintelligible  and  they 
remained  locked  up  in  Mary's  breast.  Yet,  the  transactions  of  this 
occasion  were  necessary,  in  order  at  a  time  in  which  it  might  be 
done,  without  any  farther  peril  to  the  youth,  to  reanimate  the  spirits 
around  with  the  faith  of  a  Simeon  and  an  Anna,  strengthen  those  who 
were  in  expectation  of  the  consolation  of  Israel,  and  fill  the  minds  of 
the  learned  with  splendid  reflections.  A  great  event  which  arouses 
us,  is  ordinarily  announced  at  an  early  period.  Then  it  lies  still, 
until  it  breaks  out  for  the  second  and  third  time.  He  who  attends, 
can  recognise  the  indications  of  its  fulfilment.  But  as  the  multitude 
never  attend,  as  wickedness  is  blind,  so  Jesus  ripened  before  and  af- 
terwards, in  happy  forgetfulness ;  no  one  strove  after  the  king  of 
Judah,  the  prince  of  the  family  of  Davi^',  after  the  Life.  Satan  him- 
self was  the  first  who  found  him,  having  received  permission  to 
tempt  him.     In  the  mean  time,  Christ  fulfilled  the  entire  lot  of  hu- 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  263 

plained  himself  in  a  similar  manner  respecting  it,  and, 
in  so  doing,  gave  his  hearers  to  understand  that  the  con- 
ception and  expression  had  long  been  familiar  with  him, 
John  4;  34.  8:  29.  And,  now  tell  me  how  a  common,  in- 
digent lad  of  Galilee,  who  had  never  enjoyed  any  of  those 
advantages  calculated  to  fill  the  mind  with  great  concep- 
tions and  mighty  resolutions,  could  have  struck  upon  a 
thought  to  which  the  greatest  men  before  him  had  never 
approached  ?  Tell  me  how  this  thought,  and  that  too 
at  an  age  when  youthful  levity  and  childish  play  generally 
occupy  the  soul,  and  drive  it  on  in  pursuit  of  delightful 
sensations  and  pleasing  dreams ; — how  this  thought,  inde- 
scribably great  and  serious  as  it  was,  could  have  so  com- 
pletely filled  the  mind  of  this  boy,  and  taken  such  firm 
possession  of  it,  that  he  should  speak  of  it  with  the  reso- 
lute earnestness  of  a  man,  and  be  able  to  conceal  it  for 
years  afterwards  and  shut  it  up  in  his  breast  for  the  pur- 
pose of  avoiding  any  useless  surprise  before  the  time  ? 

With  all  these  unquestionable  matters  of  fact  in  view, 
is  it  possible  to  explain  the  laws  under  whose  influence 
this  mind  was  formed  and  point  out  the  way  which  it  took 
in  order  to  arrive  at  such  perfection  ?  It  is  true  that  the 
sacred  books  of  his  nation  contained  the  leading  ideas  of 
what  he  taught  and  allusions  to  such  a  plan  as  his  was. 
But  what  are  these  dawning  rays  compared  with  the  sur- 
passing splendor  of  this  sun  of  righteousness  ?  Why  did 
not  thousands  and  thousands  of  his  fellow  citizens  who 
possessed  these  books,  make  his  discoveries,  and  obtain 
some  hint  of  his  plan?  Why  were  the  learned  men 
of  his  nation,  who  were  occupied  their  whole  lives,  with 
these  writings,  simple  fools,  and  short-sighted,  circum- 
scribed chatterers  in  comparison  with  him  ?     Whence  did 


manity.  Possessed  of  an  equal  eternity  with  the  Father,  he  passed 
through  the  limits  of  time,  not  becoming  suddenly  what  he  was, 
but  gradually  increasing  in  more  extensive  wisdom,  in  manliness, 
and  grace,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  man,  even  after  the  scene  in 
the  temple,  and  until  he  had  arrived  to  perfect  maturity,  becoming 
a  man  without  equal,  and  active  as  the  founder  of  a  new,  a  heaven- 
ly kingdom  upon  the  theatre  of  the  world."  '] 


264 

he  acquire  the  intelligibility,  definiteness,  and  highly- 
wonderful  simplicity  with  which  he  spoke  respecting  the 
most  important  concerns  of  mankind,  upon  which,  in 
touching  images  and  short  narrations,  he  uttered  more 
that  is  true  and  useful  than  can  be  found  upon  the  subject 
•in  the  most  laborious  investigations  of  philosophers  ?  Here 
every  thing  is  incomprehensible.  If  God  did  not  enlighten 
him  and  destine  him  for  a  teacher  of  the  world,  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  He,  this  man  from  the  low  crowd,  in  the 
midst  of  an  ignorant  nation,  could  have  conceived  the  idea 
of  his  great  plan,  and  become  the  founder  of  a  religion 
which  is  more  rational,  exalted,  and  benevolent,  than  any 
the  world  ever  contained  ;  how  he  could  have  soared  to 
the  attainment  of  a  wisdom  by  which  he  left  all  other  wise 
men  far  behind  him. 

§111.  But  farther ; — it  is  very  difEcult  to  comprehend 
how  that  firmness  and  strength  of  soul  could  have  been  pro- 
duced in  him,  without  which  he  could  never  have  sustained 
a  conception  of  his  great  plan,  much  less,  have  been  able  to 
cherish  and  carry  it  through  with  pleasure.  Had  the 
strength  of  his  soul  consisted  of  that  wildfire  which  rages  in 
the  conqueror,  and  drives  him  on  to  fool-hardy  undertakings, 
then  there  would  be  no  cause  for  wonder.  It  is  evident 
from  a  multitude  of  examples,  that  this  quality  is  develop- 
ed with  the  greatest  facility  among  a  barbarous  people. 
But  the  strength  of  his  mind  was  the  energetic  active- 
ness  of  an  enlightened  soul,  which,  having  once  rationally 
considered  and  resolved  upon  its  enterprises,  shuns  no 
difficulty,  shrinks  from  no  obstacle.  Notwithstanding  the 
zeal  with  which  he  operated,  the  irresistible  power  with 
which  he  pressed  on  to  his  goal,  he  took  no  precipitate 
step,  adopted  no  improper  measures,  and  acted  with  a 
wisdom  and  moderation,  which  one  would  by  no  means 
expect  to  find  in  a  mind  of  such  strength.  His  prudence 
exceeded  every  thing  of  the  kind  that  had  actually  been 
witnessed  among  his  people,  and  never  suffered  him 
amidst  the  noisy  applauses  which  sometimes  fell  to  his  lot, 
to  be  blinded,  or  seduced  into  an  erroneous  opinion. 
This  prudence  of  itself  affords  proof  of  his  having  had  ex- 


EXTRA-ORDINARy  AND  DIVINE.  265 

traordinaiy  self-possession  ;  as  nothing  is  more  connmon 
than  for  even  great  men  to  place  too  early  confidence  in 
the  flattering  appearance  of  a  favourable  event,  and  either 
to  become  far  too  secure,  or  begin  to  act  with  improvi- 
dence, John  2:  23—25. 

Now  what  was  there  to  favor  and  cherish  such  strength 
of  mind  as  that  which  awakened    this  courage  in  the 
founder  of  Christianity  ?     Had  he  received  an  education 
which    kindled    in  him    an   unextinguishable   flame   for 
great  undertakings ; — but  it  is-  well  known  that  he  had  re- 
ceived nothing  of  the  kind.     Had  he  possessed  power, 
and  by  means  of  connexions  and  affluent  circumstances, 
been  able  to  calculate  upon  procuring  for  himself  with 
ease,  a  great  and  extensive  influence; — but  we  are  in- 
formed that  he  was  a  poor  Jew,  of  mean  origin,  totally 
destitute  of  power  and  authority,  and  had  nothing  to  de- 
pend upon  for  assistance  derived  from  his  condition  in 
life.     Had  his  courage  been  cherished  and  his  heart  in- 
spired  with  especial    boldness  by  the  rapid   success  of 
his  undertakings  and  the  hope  of  soon  being  able  to  ar- 
rive at  the  goal  of  his  wishes ; — but  neither  was  the  case. 
The  result  of  his  most  zealous  efibrts  was  upon  the  whole 
so  bad,  that  the  strongest  mind  without  his  heroism  would 
have  given  up  all  in  despair.     The  surprise  which   he 
created,  was  not  the   effect  that  he  desired.      He  saw 
indeed,  that  great  crowds  ran  after  him,  and  people  of 
every  class  pressed  around  him.     They  were  put  in  mo- 
tion, however,  by    hopes  of  earthly  greatness  and  daz- 
zling   power,  which  bound  them   in  magic  fetters,  and 
wrapt  them  up  in  sweet  and  delusive  dreams.      These 
he  was  obliged  to  suppress ; — a  work,  which,  while  it  put 
his  courage  to  a  severe  test  and  called  upon  him  to  impart 
to  his   countrymen   better   knowledge   and    information, 
from  their  obstinacy  he  was  scarcely  able  to  effect.   What 
should  he  do  with  his  proud  nation,  so  totally  misappre- 
henslve  as  it  was  of  its  real  wants  and  infatuated  almost  to 
madness  by  the  giddiness  of  extravagant  expectations  ? 
which  prejudice  should  he  attack  in  the  first  place  ?  How 
could  he  infuse  into  these  rough  men  tliat  love  of  truth,  that 
23 


266 

zeal  for  virtue,  that  tender  benevolence,  and  that  forbear- 
ing calmness  to  which  they  would  not  even  listen,  and 
that,  because  they  desired  of  him  enjoyment  and  wealth, 
authority  and  power,  and  in  particular,  dominion  over  the 
heathen ;  and  in  case  he  did  not  fulfil  this  desire,  were 
ready  to  mock,  insuh,  and  crucify  him  upon  the  spot  ? 
For  several  years  in  succession  did  he  labor  with  them, 
and  then  he  was  as  far  from  accomplishing  his  object  in  this 
respect,  as  at  first.  By  all  his  efforts  and  journeys  and 
perils  he  was  unable  to  divest  even  his  own  intimate  disci- 
ples of  those  prejudices,  which,  if  not  totally  eradicated, 
would  have  prevented  the  execution  of  his  plan.^  Un- 
der such  adverse  circumstances,  was  it  possible  to  pro- 
duce that  firmness  and  strength  of  soul,  which,  in  spite 
of  every  difficulty,  should  adhere  steadily  to  the  idea  of 
carrying  into  effect  a  plan  of  universal  benevolence  ? 

It  inspires  a  man  with  courage  to  see  a  goal  before 
him  and  be  able  to  hope  that  in  process  of  time  he 
sl>all  reach  it.  Thus  circumstanced,  he  labors,  suffers, 
and  struggles,  because  assured  that  it  will  not  be  in 
vain.  But  where  was  the  goal,  the  sight  of  which  could 
have  sustained  the  courage  of  the  founder  of  Christian- 
ity ?  He  might  easily  have  known  that  his  extremely 
rude  nation  would  not  long  permit  him  to  labor  and  toil 
for  the  execution  of  his  plan.  He  saw  that  this  execu- 
tion would  require  a  course  of  centuries.  And  yet  he 
shrunk  not  from  the  Undertaking,  but  adhered  faithfully 
to  his  purpose  in  death.  Were  there  grounds  to  suspect 
him  of  enthusiasm,  I  would  cease  to  inquire  any  longer 
for  those  causes  in  which  such  unheard  of  firmness  of 
soul  could  have  originated.  But  that  man  must  be  ig- 
norant of  what  enthusiasm  is,  who  is  able  to  discover  the 

*  Celsus,  vid.  Origen,  lib.  II.  Sect.  33  seqq.  [especially  Sect.  39. 
p.  413  and  417,  de  la  Rue,]  adduces  the  small  success  of  Christ's  ef- 
forts  as  an  objection  to  Christianity  and  its  founder,  and  Origen 
takes  great  pains  to  represent  the  effects  of  Christ's  instruction  as 
great  and  extensive.  He  might  have  saved  himself  all  this  trouble, 
for  this  small  success,  rightly  contemplated,  proves  very  honourable 
to  the  founder  of  Christianity. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  267 

least  traces  of  it  here.  Every  suspicion  of  the  kind  is  an- 
nihilated by  the  single  remark,  that  the  prevailing  tone  of 
his  mind  was  not  animation,  wild  zeal,  nor  raging  passion, 
but  a  still,  rational  calmness  which  no  passing  attacks  of 
fanatic  rage  and  extravagance  could  interrupt  or  disturb.* 
But  it  is  indeed,  altogether  incomprehensible  how  in  one 
and  the  same  person,  this  cool  reflection  and  calm  equa- 
nimity of  temper  could  have  been  combined  with  a  burn- 
ing activity  and  bold  enterprising  courage,  so  far  excelling 
all  the  fire  and  courage  of  the  most  notable  heroes. 

Let  the  natural  way,  therefore,  be  pointed  out  which 
the  mind  of  Jesus  took  to  acquire  such  greatness ;  let 
reasons  be  given  to  show  why  he  unquestionably  had 
greater  courage  than  the  boldest  spirits  of  antiquity,  and 
exercised  it  in  a  way  entirely  different  from  what  they 
were  accustomed    to  do.      The  men  of  great  internal 
power  before  him  were  usually  conquerors  ;  and  he  also 
might  have  been  one,  if  he  had  chosen.     According  to 
the  common   course  of  things  he  must  almost  have  been 
obliged  to  be  one.     He  lived  in  a  country  in  which  every 
heart  was  inflamed  with  a  spirit  of  insurrection.      No 
persons  were  more  sensitive  and  passionate,  none  more 
ready  to  fly  to  arras  at  the  least  hint,  than  the  restless 
Galileans  among  whom  he  was  brought  up.f     How  was 
it  possible  for  his  mind,  full  of  ardor,  activity  and  cour- 
age, not  to  be  affected  witH  the  same  mode  of  thinking 
prevalent  among  his  countrymen,   driven  on   to  warlike 
enterprises,  nor  even  in  tender  youth,  to  receive  a  false 
direction  ?    In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  was  not  only 
presented   with    excellent    opportunities  for  undertaking 
something  great,  but  he  was  expressly  called  upon  to  free 
his  native  country  from  the  disgraceful  yoke  of  foreigners, 
and  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  nation.     His  Gali- 

*  Comp.  Hess,  Ueber  die  Lehren,  Thaten,  und  Schicksale  unsers 
Herrn,  S.  244  ff.     [Ausg.  von  1806,  zweite  Halfte,  S.  196  ff.] 

t  [Josephus  bears  particular  testii»ony  to  the  warlike  character  of 
the  Galileans  ;  De  bello  Jud.  III.  3,  2.  Haverc.  11.  233,  with  which 
compare  Wetstein  upon  Luke  23:  4.    Tom.  I.  742. j 


268  Christ's  plan  proves  him 

]ean  citizens  were  in  a  state  of  very  great  excitement,  as 
Herod  had  caused  John  the  Baptist  to  be  beheaded.* 
Had  Jesus  only  seized  upon  this  occasion,  he  might  have 
soon  rendered  himself  terrible  to  this  odious  ruler.  But 
so  far  was  he  from  stimulating  the  exasperated  nation, 
that,  in  order  not  to  be  the  cause  of  disturbances  inciden- 
tally, he  withdrew  himself  from  the  multitude  which  sought 
him  with  such  eagerness,  and  retired  into  the  region  of 
the  sea  of  Galilee.  More  than  once,  great  crowds,  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  hopes  which  they  entertained  of  Je- 
sus, having  been  inflamed  and  rendered  as  courageous  as 
lions,  were  resolved  to  take  him  by  force  and  make  him 
their  leader.  He  was  a  descendant  of  David,  that  ever 
honored  hero  and  king ;  and  his  mother  had  been  in- 
formed by  an  angel,  that  God  would  give  her  son  the 
throne  of  David  his  father,  and  exalt  him  to  be  ruler  of 
the  people  Israel,  Luke  1:  32,  33.  His  very  birth,  there- 
fore, seemed  not  only  to  justify  him  in  thinking  of  the 
deliverance  of  his  countrymen,  who  had  long  fought  and 
striven  to  shake  ofl"  the  foreign  yoke,  and  who  burnt  with 
desire  to  wash  away  the  reproach  which  they  had  hitherto 
suffered,  in  the  blood  of  the  heathen,  but  to  absolutely 
compel  him  to  do  so.  Finally,  he  was  required  to  do  this 
at  an  age,  when  he  possessed  the  strength  of  youth  and 
all  the  glowing  fire  of  a  great  and  enterprising  mind. 
Even  here,  however,  his  exalted  spirit  took  a  way  new 
and  altogether  peculiar  to  himself.  Amidst  all  the  sedu- 
cing excitements  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  he  re- 
mained faithful  to  his  plan,  in  the  execution  of  which  no 
force  was  to  be  employed,  and  treated  the  renown  of  a 
hero  for  which  the  greatest  men  before  him  had  thirsted, 
with  magnanimous  contempt. f  Whence  all  this  moderation 

*  Comp.  Hess,  Geschichte  der  drey  letzten  Lebensjahre  Jesu, 
Th.  I.  B.  IV.  K.  1.  S.  235.    [Nach  der  8n.  Ausg.  v.  1822,  S.  523  ff.] 

t  [Comp.  Hess,  Lehre,  That.  u.  Schicks.  uns.  Herrn,  H.  61  f. 
(15  f.  der  A.  v.  1816.)  "  Jesus  must  have  heard  much  said  of  a  Judas 
of  Galilee,  and  his  seditious  undertakings  in  a  country  which  was 
soon  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  own  actions.  Such  an  example  as  that 
set  by  this  restless  zealot,  especially  among  a  people  as  enterprising 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  269 

and  forbearing  meekness  on  the  one  hand,  and  this  un- 
questionable firmness  and  strength  on  the  other  ?  How 
could  Jesus,  left  as  he  was  to  himself,  and  under  circum- 
stances which  would  naturally  have  produced  directly  the 
opposite  effects,  have  attained  to  such  cultivation  ?  How 
can  that  courage  be  accounted  for,  with  which,  though 
animated  by  no  appearance  of  happy  results,  he  adhered 
to  his  plan  even  to  the  last,  and  the  firmest,  indeed,  when 
God  and  man  had  as  it  were  united  against  him,  and 
every  thing  seemed  to  result  in  nothing ;  at  the  time  of 
his  death  ?  If  he  was  not  sustained  by  the  Deity, 
upon  whom  in  a  plan  of  this  character,  every  thing  im- 
mediately depends;  if  the  Creator  did  not  make  him  a 
benefactor  of  his  race,  I  know  not  what  to  answer.  At 
least,  he  was  not  deceived  in  his  hopes.  So  far  was  his 
plan  from  being  frustrated  by  his  death,  that  its  execu- 
tion went  on  much  easier  and  better  than  before. 

<^112.  And,  finally,  what  shall  I  say  of  the  benevo- 
lence, embracing  all  mankind,  that  lay  at  the  basis  of 
this  plan,  which  the  founder  of  Christianity  had  delineat- 
ed before  him  for  the  good  of  the  world  ?     Here  he  is 


as  the  Galileans  in  general,  and  as  irritable  and  fickle  as  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Nazareth  in  particular,  (Luke  iv.  comp.  v.  22  with  vs.  28, 
29,)  might  easily  have  lighted  up  the  breast  of  a  youth  full  of  talent 
and  fire,  but  destitute  of  firmness,  and  a  self-control  under  the  guid- 
ance of  wisdom,  with  the  invincible  sparks  and  impulse  of  freedom, 
and  that  to  a  most  dangerous  flame.  But  then  such  an  one  would 
hardly  have  remained  a  mere  spectator  until  thirty  years  of  age. 
It  is  worthy  of  particular  remark  in  regard  to  our  Lord  that  he  was 
able  to  live  for  so  long  a  time  among  so  seditious  a  people  as  the 
Jews,  without  allowing  himself  to  become  in  the  least  degree  a 
partizan  and  partake  in  their  spirit  of  revenge,  or  among  so  irrita- 
ble countrymen,  without  being' infected  with  their  obstinacy  and 
their  prejudices.  What  he  saw  or  heard  of  brooding  uproar  seem- 
ed rather  to  produce  an  opposite  eff'ect  upon  him,  and  confirm  him 
in  his  resolution  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  thing  of  the  kind. 
When  the  account  came  from  Jerusalem,  that  Pilate  had  caused 
some  Galileans  to  be  slain  while  engaged  in  the  business  of  sacri- 
ficing, (an  account  of  itself  alone  sufficient  to  inflame  the  irritable 
Jews  to  a  sedition,)  not  a  bitter  word  escaped  from  his  mouth.  He 
represented  their  fate  as  a  misfortune,  not  absolutely  undeserved, 
nor  yet  particularly  deserved,  but  as  a  warning  to  those  around 
him."] 

23* 


270 

entirely  without  example.  We  have  searched  all  the  an- 
cients to  find  such  a  plan,  in  vain.  His  taste  in  this  re- 
spect differed  ahogether  from  theirs.  Moreover  nothing 
could  have  been  less  favorable  to  this  magnanimous  and 
unparalleled  benevolence  than  the  mode  of  thinking  pe- 
culiar to  the  nation  in  which  Jesus  lived.  It  is  not  easy 
for  a  people  to  be  farther  removed  from  genuine,  active 
philanthropy,  than  the  Jews  were  at  the  time  of  Christ. 
They  looked  upon  the  heathen  with  the  greatest  con- 
tempt, and  even  shunned  intercourse  with  them  as  far  as 
possible  for  fear  of  being  contaminated.  By  means  of 
the  odious  reign  of  Herod  the  Great,  who  was  a  foreign- 
er and  recognised  the  Jewish  religion  only  in  appear- 
ance, and  by  means  of  the  Roman  supremacy,  under 
which  the  country  afterwards  fell,  this  aversion  had  been 
greatly  increased,  and  finally  it  ended  in  universal  exas- 
peration. Under  such  circumstances  was  Jesus  brought 
up,  and  one  would  suppose  that  with  the  strength  of  mind 
which  he  possessed,  and  the  ardent  courage  with  which 
he  braved  the  greatest  difficuhies,  he  would  have  become 
the  deliverer  of  his  country,  and  have  endeavored  to  pro- 
cure for  his  nation  that  dignity,  which,  according  to  Jewish 
pride,  they  were  to  maintain  among  nations  less  beloved, 
or  perhaps  even  reprobated  by  their  Creator  ;  especially  as 
he  found  his  fellow  citizens,  as  I  remarked  above,  very 
much  bent  upon  such  an  undertaking.  But  his  soul  was  not 
narrow  and  contracted  enough  to  devote  itself  to  such  a 
plan.  In  the  midst  of  circumstances  which  might  have 
bound  it  up  entirely  in  the  fetters  of  Jewish  selfishness, 
and  in  senseless,  national  pride,  it  enlarged  itself  to  an  ex- 
tent of  benevolence,  to  a  universal  feeling  of  kindness,  to 
a  tenderness  and  philanthropy,  of  which  history  furnishes 
us  with  no  similar  example.  In  the  plan  formed  by  Je- 
sus, not  a  trace  is  to  be  discovered  of  that  aversion  to 
heathen  nations,  so  peculiar  to  the  Jews  in  Palestine.  On 
the  other  hand,  one  of  its  principal  objects  was  the  re- 
moval of  that  distinction  which  had  hitherto  existed  be- 
tween Jews  and  heathen.  Mankind  were  to  be  saved, 
educated,  and  blessed,  by  its  influence,  whatever  they  were. 


EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE.  271 

How  was  it  possible  for  a  man  who  embraced  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  in  the  greatest  love,  and  projected  one 
of  the  most  benevolent  plans  that  ever  sprung  from  a 
human  mind,  to  derive  his  origin  from  a  nation  which  de- 
spised all  other  nations,  made  hatred  to  them  a  religious 
duty,  and  considered  it  criminal  to  approach  them  or 
form  connexions  with  them  ?  Here  every  thing  is  new 
and  incomprehensible ;  every  thing  governed  by  strange 
laws.  External  circumstances  and  relations  are  constant- 
ly at  variance  with  the  disposition  and  feelings  of  Jesus, 
and  produce  in  him  effects  directly  the  opposite  to  what 
they  usually  do  in  other  cases.  Under  such  circumstan- 
ces, no  human  mind  has  ever  developed  such  qualities. 
If  God  was  not  with  this  man,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how 
he  became  what  he  was ;  how  he  could  possibly  have 
acquired  that  heavenly  dignity,  greatness,  and  elevation, 
with  which  he  stands  forth  unequalled  and  alone  in  the 
vast  space  of  history,  far  surpassing  in  splendor  all  that 
is  worthy  of  admiration  upon  earth. 

§  113.  And  now  let  him,  who  has  a  sense  of  what  true 
greatness  of  mind  is,  who  can  rejoice  to  hear  of  genuine 
magnanimity,  bold  undertakings,  and  benevolent  plans, 
and  is  impartial  and  just  enough  to  acknowledge,  esteem, 
and  love,  truth,  exaltation,  and  goodness,  wherever  found, 
reflect,  once  more,  upon  the  extraordinary  plan  which  I 
have  been  considering ;  call  to  mind  the  qualities  for 
which  its  author  was  so  strikingly  distinguished,  and  then 
ask  his  heart,  whether  it  is  rational  and  just,  to  treat  with 
indifference,  and  perhaps  with  base  ridicule  and  profane 
contempt,  the  conception  of  such  a  man  as  Christ  was ; 
who,  without  any  external  aid,  could  not  only  undertake 
the  most  important  work  that  was  ever  attempted,  but 
even  effect  a  movement  which  should  reach  to  so  many  na- 
tions and  last  for  centuries ;  let  him  consider  whether 
such  conduct  is  not  a  most  biting  satire  upon  the  mind 
and  heart  of  him  who  can  so  far  forget  himself  as  to  be 
guilty  of  it ;  and  whether  the  conviction  of  the  many 
thousands,  who  have  been  induced  by  numerous  other 
reasons,  to  look  upon  the  founder  of  Christianity  as  a 


272  EXTRAORDINARY  AND  DIVINE. 

most  exalted  ambassador  from  God  to  our  race,  as  well 
as  their  Redeemer  and  Saviour,  is  not  far  more  rational 
than  that  frivolity,  which,  without  any  rational  proof,  be- 
lieves the  contrary. 


APPENDIX 


A.  p.  6. 


Respecting  the  manner  in  which  Reinhard  has  apprehended  the 
plan  of  Jesus. 

Some  Christian  readers,  having  hearts  familiar  and 
thoroughly  penetrated  with  the  entire  representation  giv- 
en by  the  Evangelists  of  the  work  of  redemption  wrought 
out  by  Jesus  Christ,  may  be  surprised,  and  after  all, 
dissatisfied,  on  finding  that  this  production  of  Reinhard 
contains  but  a  partial  representation  of  Christ's  plan.  It 
must  be  recollected,  however,  that  Reinhard  exhibits  the 
plan  of  Jesus  only  as  that  of  an  institution  calculated  for 
the  religious  instruction  and  improvement  of  mankind  at 
large,  and,  at  the  very  commencement  (p.  5)  expressly 
declares  it  not  to  be  his  intention  to  speak  of  the  appro- 
priate work  of  redemption  accomplished  by  Christ,  that 
is,  of  the  expiation  of  sin  effected  by  his  death,  and  the 
salvation  of  mankind  from  guilt  and  condemnation.  That 
Reinhard  had  any  doubts  as  to  this  part  of  Christ's  work, 
or  confined  his  entire  merit  as  a  Saviour,  to  his  merit  as 
a  teacher,  no  one  can  believe,  who  has  ever  glanced  at 
his  other  writings,  especially  his  Sermons,  Theology,  and 
Confessions.'^     The  question  however  may  arise  :  What 

*  [The  following  places  among  others  may  be  consulted  :  Ser- 
mon on  the  Reformation,  Predigten,  Vol.  II.  for  1800  ;  Gestaudnisse, 
Br.  IX.  S.  90 ff.,  Sulzb.,  1810;  Dogmatik,  §  89 ff.  4te.  Aufl.,  espe- 
cially  §  107 ;  where,  after  having  mentioned  various  minor  objects 
which  were  to  be  accomplished  by  Christ's  death,  ho  concludes  with 
stating  the  grand  one }  namely,  to  deliver  mankind  from  the  guilt 
and  punishment  of  sin,  and  then  goes  on  to  guard  and  defend  the 
doctrine  that  Christ's  sufferings  were  vicarious,  against  the  Socini- 
ans,  Universalists,  &c.  Comp.  also.  Biblical  Theology,  transl.  from 
the  work  of  St(Jrr  and  Flatt  by  Schmucker,  Vol.  II.  pp.  218, 229.  Tr.] 


274  APPENDIX,  A 


induced  Reinhard  to  take  such  a  general  view  of  Christ's 
plan,  and  whether  this  part  of  it  can  be  separated  from 
Christ's  other  work  ? 

The  reasons  of  Reinhard's  mode  of  proceeding  in  this 
respect,  are  easy  to  be  discovered.  It  is  necessary,  in 
the  first  place,  to  go  back  to  the  occasion  of  the  present 
publication  in  the  year  1781.  This  was  the  appearance 
of  the  Wolfenbuttel  Fragment  respecting  the  object  of 
Jesus  shortly  before,  or  in  the  year  1778.  In  this  work, 
the  ethical  character  of  Christ's  plan  was  entirely  mis- 
taken and  the  plan  itself  degraded  into  an  ignoble,  though 
unsuccessful  one,  for  assuming  the  control  of  the  nation. 
How  it  was  possible  for  a  man  of  Reimarus'  noted  moral* 
character  and  distinguished,  learned,  and  scientific  edu- 
cation, thus  to  misapprehend  the  object  of  Jesus,  so 
clearly  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament,  and  treat  his 
personal  character  with  insult,  and  often  with  rude  pro- 
fanity, will  always  belong  to  psychological  problems. 
To  the  Wolfenbuttel  Fragmentist,  succeeded  Bahrdt 
who  did  not  impute  to  Christ  a  political  plan  indeed,  for 
he  acknowledged  the  moral  tendency  of  his  plan,  but 
yet,  in  another  point  of  view,  he  brought  suspicion  upon 
Christ's  character  and  mode  of  introducing  his  doctrines, 
by  making  him  employ  the  deceptions  of  a  secret  society 
for  the  purpose,  which  would  necessarily  obscure  the  per- 
sonal dignity  of  Jesus  and  the  pure  splendor  of  his  work. 
In  opposition  to  these  calumnies,  Reinhard  came  forward 
in  behalf  of  Christianity,  and  triumphantly  defended  the 

*  That  Reimarus  was  the  author  of  the  Fragmente,  Meusel  con- 
sidered onhj  as  probable  in  the  Lexicon  der  1750 — 1800,  verst. 
teutsch.  Schriftst.  XI.  132;  but  since  the  communications  made 
by  Hartmann  in  the  Leipz.  Litt.  Zeit.  1825,  Sep.  Nr.  231 ,  232,  and  by 
Oertel,  Decemb.  Nr.  299.,  also  in  the  Zweifel,  1826,  Marz,  Nr.  60,  to 
which,  Nr.  61,  and  1827,  Marz,  Nr.  55,  an  answer  has  been  written  by 
Gurlitt,  may  be  looked  upon  as  decided.  Had  it  not  been  far  from 
Reimarus'  intention  to  publish  The  Fragments,  one  would  be  tempt- 
ed here  to  adopt  the  opinion  of  Samuel  Johnson,  respecting  the 
publication  of  Bolingbroke's  works  after  his  death.  Vid.  BoswelPa 
Life  of  Johnson,  Vol.  I.  171.  [Vol.  I.  p.  210,  Bost.,  1807.  To  this 
may  also  be  added  the  opinion  of  Geo.  Whitefield.  Vid.  his  Eigh- 
teen Sermons,  S.  XVI.  p.  205,  N.  B.  N.  J.,  1802.    Tr.j 


APPENDIX^,  A.  275 

purity  of  its  founder  both  in  respect  to  his  object  and 
the  means  which  he  selected  for  its  accomplishment.     If 
these  circumstances  be  kept  in  view,  it  will  be  perceived 
that  Reinhard  could  not  well  have  given  greater  extent 
to  his  labor  than  he  has  done,  and  that  an  investigation  of 
the  entire  work .  of  redemption  accomplished  by  Christ, 
was  necessarily  excluded.     He  was  obliged  to  adhere  to 
the  general  question  :  Was  the  tendency  and  influence  of 
Christ's  plan  ethical    in    the  main  or  not  ?      Moreover 
Reinhard  thought  that  some  readers,  who  were  still  un- 
decided in  their  opinion  respecting    Christianity  and  its 
author,  and  very  far   from  believing  in  the  doctrine  of 
expiation,  needed   a  general  introduction  to  the  truths  of 
the  Gospel ;  and  hence,  that  it  would  be  very  appropri- 
ate for  such  readers  to  have  an  explanation  given  in  the 
first  place,  of  the  moral  dignity  of  Christ  and  his  work 
simply,  in  order  that  their  hearts  might  be  thus  rendered 
susceptible  of  true  reverence  towards  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ.     That  Reinhard  has  accomplished  this  object  in 
regard  to  many  persons  can  be  admitted  with  certainty.* 
A  man  could  now  hardly  be  found  who  would  repeat  the 
defamations  which  have  been  uttered  in  the  Wolf.  Frag, 
respecting  the  sacred  name  of  Jesus,  or  refuse  to  pro- 
nounce all  his  arguments,   sophisms.     It  would  be  diffi- 
culr  to  find  a  man  who  would  give  his  assent  to  the  fic- 
tions of  Bahrdt.     The  investigation  respecting  the  purity 
of  Christ's  plan,  is  decided  and  brought  as  it  were  to  a 
close  ;  and  who  can  doubt,  that  Reinhard's  work  exerted 
an  essential  influence  in  giving  a  better  direction  to  gen- 
eral opinion  in  this  respect  ? 

Then  the  compass  to  which  this  work  of  Reinhard  is 
confined,  may  also  be  defended,  if  it  be  considered  in  a 
scientific  point  of  view.     It  is  an  apologetical  perform- 


*  Comp.  for  example,  the  honorable  opinion  of  the  spirited  and 
accomplished  philologist,  Morlin,  in  Lenning's  Encyclopadie  der 
Freimaurerei,  I.  187,  aus  dem  Altenb.  Journal  far  Fr.  Maurerei,  B. 
II.  Heft.  1.  u.  2,  where  he  expressly  acknowledges  that  Reinhard 
has  developed  the  arguments  brought  forward  against  Bahrdt's  hy- 
pothesis, in  a  clear  and  acute  manner. 


276  APPENDIX,    A. 

ance,  and  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  "  contribution  to  the 
proofs  of  the  Christian  religion."  Apologetics,  however, 
according  to  the  views  which  Grotius*  has  correctly  taken 
of  them,  have  nothing  to  do  with  defending  the  single 
doctrines  and  positive  precepts  of  Christianity.  If  this 
were  the  case,  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  com- 
prehend the  whole  of  theology  and  polemics,  for  which 
however,  they  only  prepare  the  way.  The  object  which 
they  aim  to  accomplish,  is  a  scientific  exhibition  of  the 
arguments  in  proof  of  the  divine  authority  of  Christian- 
ity as  a  revelation  in  general.  They  inquire,  therefore, 
whether,  and  how,  Christ  was  accredited  as  a  divine 
messenger.  They  begin  with  a  preliminary  examination 
respecting  the  genuineness  of  the  divine  credentials, 
which  Christ  received,  and  then  proceed  to  a  closer 
scrutiny  of  the  purport  of  his  heavenly  commission.  If, 
therefore,  the  views  taken  by  Reinhard  of  Christ's  plan, 
are  brought  forward  as  a  series  of  apologetical  deduc- 
tions, it  is  sufficient;  there  is  no  need  of  doing  any  thing 
more  than  giving  a  general  prominence  to  the  moral  part 
of  this  plan,  the  part  worthy  of  God. 

If,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  the  question  be  asked ; 
where  shall  we  begin  with  skeptics,  and  those  who  op- 
pose Christianity,  in  order  to  incline  them  to  favor  it  in 
only  a  general  degree,  every  one  will  readily  see  that  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  commence  with  the  expiation  of 
sin  by  Christ,  which  is  one  of  the  deeper  mysteries.  The 
first  step  to  be  taken  in  order  to  lead  such  persons  to  be- 
lieve at  all  in  Christ,  is,  evidently,  to  make  them  acquaint- 
ed with  his  character  and  his  plan  so  closely  connected 
with  it,  or  the  pecuHar  spirit  which  pervaded  his  whole 
life  and  all  his  actions,  as  being  in  a  moral  point  of  view, 
to  the  highest  degree  venerable  and  deserving  of  love.  So 
long  as  a  person  entertains  doubts  respecting  the  purity  of 
Christ's  character,  he  cannot  be  expected  to  have  gen- 


*  Comp.  the  article  Apologetik  in  the  4th  Bde.  der  Ersch-Gruber- 
schen  Enryclopadie.  [Vid.  the  article  also  in  the  Encyclop.  Am. 
or  Conv.  Lex.     Consult  also  Sack's  Apologetik,  Harab..  1829.  Tr.] 


APPENDIX,    A.  277 

ulne  faith  in  him,  and  he  who  has  not  unhesitatingly  re- 
cognised Christ  as  the  holy  one  an^ong  men,  is  by  no 
means  prepared  to  recognise  him   as  a  mediator. 

Perhaps  many  readers  and  even  critics  of  Reinhard's 
work,  by  overlooking  the  above  named  point,  will  be  led  to 
impute  to  him  a  view  of  Christianity  from  which  he  was 
very  far  removed,  and  make  him  look  upon  it  as  nothing 
more  than  the  means  employed  by  Providence  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  rational  religion.  This  supposition  may  even 
procure  for  this  work  the  approbation  of  many  persons 
who  would  otherwise  have  rejected  it  with  disdain. 
Should  this  be  the  case,  however,  it  would  be  unjust  to 
make  use  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  censuring  the  author, 
and  accusing  him  of  having  been  the  occasion  of  de- 
ception in  this  thing,  by  taking  an  imperfect  or  impartial 
view  of  the  object  and  work  of  Jesus. 

If,  however,  abstracted  from  all  this,  the  question 
should  be  asked,  whether  in  real,  practical  Christianity, 
in  the  contemplation  of  a  Christian  feeling  for  Christ, 
it  be  possible  to  form  a  conception  of  his  plan  and 
keep  it  distinct  from  his  entire  and  complete  work  as  a 
Redeemer,  it  would  scarcely  need  a  reply,  for  obviously 
it  is  not.  Christ  himself  is  one  ;  his  work  is  one  great 
work.  As  this  work  is  not  divisible  in  itself,  so  neither  is 
it,  as  an  object  of  a  living  faith.  Faith  is  to  adopt  and  em- 
brace the  whole  Christ,  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wis- 
doirij  and  righteousness,  and  sandification,  and  redemption, 
1  Cor.  1:  30.  This  Christ  is  to  remain  inseparable,  or  to 
use  an  old  figure  which  Reinhard,  (vid.  his  Life  by  Po- 
litz,  IT.  S.  265,)  after  the  example  of  Cyprian  (De  unitate 
Ecclesiae  ab  init.,  p.  181.  ed.  Prior.  Par.  1666,)  and 
Whitefield,  (vid.  Burkhard's  Geschichte  der  Methodisten, 
II.  S.  99,)  also  delighted  to  employ,  the  coat  of  Christ  was 
without  seam,  and  remained  undivided.  If  then  the  plan 
of  Jesus  was  intended  for  the  advancement  of  genuine 
morality  in  close  connexion  with  love  to  God,  then  not 
to  recognise  who  he  was,  and  how  in  his  mission  and  the 
sacrifice  he  offered  for  us,  he  has  laid  before  us  the  high- 
est and  strongest  motive  for  inducing  us  to  love  God  and 
24 


278  APPEiiDix,  B. 

man,  John  3.  16.  1  John  4:  16,  19,  is  to  sever  its  very 
nerves.  The  establishing  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
the  reception  of  mankind  into  it,  could  not  have  been 
effected  without  the  complete  reconciliation  of  mankind 
with  God. 


B.  p.  28. 

Concerning  the  first  quality  and  the  original  extent  of  Christ's 
plan. 

Reinhard  assumes  that  Jesus  had  a  perfectly  clear  con- 
ception of  the  plan  which  he  intended  to  form  and  exe- 
cute, at  the  very  commencement  of  his  career,  and,  as  far 
as  this  was  concerned,  always  remained  the  same ;  as  al- 
so that  this  plan  in  the  mind  of  Jesus  had  that  unlimited 
universality  imputed  to  it  in  the  Gospels.  Both  positions 
have  lately  been  questioned,  and  other  views  proposed  in 
their  stead. 

I.  In  relation  to  the  first,  it  has  been  asserted,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  obviously  moral  and  religious  nature 
of  Christ's  intentions,  and  his  decided  aversion  to  political 
undertakings  and  violent  revolutions,  he  did  not  reject  all 
idea  of  exerting  a  mediate  and  indirect  influence  in  im- 
proving the  external  condition  of  his  people  and  effecting 
their  civil  deliverance ;  that,  during  the  first  period  of  his 
public  life  in  particular,  he  had  hoped  to  be  publicly  recog- 
nised as  the  Messiah  on  the  part  of  the  nation  ;  in  which 
case,  according  to  the  notions  entertained  by  his  coun- 
trymen upon  the  subject,  as  their  theocratical  king,  he 
would  have  been  entitled  to  the  supreme  power  in  the 
state,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had  thought  of 
the  relation  which  the  theocratical  king  of  the  people 
would  in  this  case  sustain  to  the  Roman  government; 
that  afterwards,  when  Jesus  clearly  saw  the  fate  which 
awaited  him  and  the  error  of  this  hope,  he  rejected  all 
the  national  and  political  relations  of  his  plan,  and  adhered 
solely  to  the  religious  part  of  the  theocracy ;    and  that 


APPENDIX,  B  279 

hence,  originated  the  formation  of  the  plan  of  a  spiritual 
kingdom,  though  perhaps  he  was  not  lead  to  this  measure 
without  great  internal  conflicts  ;  that  it  is  even  probable 
that  Jesus  did  not  immediately  and  unconditionally  relin- 
quish all  effort  for  the  establishment  of  an  external  theoc- 
racy, even  after  he  had  taken  this  resolution,  but  rather 
left  the  decision  of  the  matter  solely  to  the  will  of  God  as 
indicated  in  the  unalterable  course  of  things.^ 

In  proof  of  these  assertions  it  is  maintained :  (1)  That  this 
theocratical  hope  was  necessarily  connected  with  the  no- 
tions which  the  Jews  had  of  the  Messiah,  and  it  is  not  ea- 
sy to  see  for  what  purpose  he  needed  this  name,  as  a  mere 
teacher  of  morality  and  a  religious  founder,  and  that 
his  very  entrance  into  Jerusalem,  Matt,  xxi.,  excited  such 
political  hopes ;  (2)  that  expressions  are  to  be  met  with, 
in  which  Christ  indicated  an  expectation  of  beholding  his 
kingdom  solemnly  commenced  during  his  lifetime,  as 
for  instance.  Matt.  10:23.  16;  27,  28.  24:34;  (3)  that 
it  is  evident  that  Jesus  entertained  such  a  hope  during  the 
former  part  of  his  life  from  the  prevailing  serenity  by  which 
he  was  characterized,  and  afterwards  gave  it  up,  from  the 
anxious  melancholy  which  he  passed  through  ;  and  that 
the  mental  struggle  he  endured  in  Gethsemane  was  oc- 
casioned by  the  destruction  of  such  hopes ;  especially, 
as  he  had  previously  expressed  the  same  sorrow  in  view 
of  the  approaching  desolation  of  his  people,  Luke  19:  41 
— 44 ;  (4)  that  the  belief  of  the  apostolic  church,  that. 
Christ  was  to  establish  an  external  kingdom,  betrays  this. 
It  will  be  proper  to  subjoin  something  by  way  of  confu- 
ting the  most  weighty  arguments  in  favor  of  the  above 
assertions. 


*  So  Hase  in  particular,  Das  Leben  Jesu,S.  85—89. 100  f.  109—113. 
129.  149  f.  174  f.,  L.  1829,  the  fundamental  traits  of  whose  represen- 
tation are  to  be  found  in  De  Wette,  Commentat.  de  morte  I.  C.  ex- 
piatoria,  p.  87  seqq.,  with  which  however  compare  his  Bibl.  Dogm. 
§  216  seqq.  S.  195  fF. ;  so  also  in  part,  Ammon,  Bibl.  Theol.  II.  378  f. ; 
Paulus,  Leben  Jesu,  1. 2.  S.  106  f.  II.  2.  XI.  &c. ,  as  also  many  passages 
of  his  commentary ;  Gieseler,  Lehrbuch  des  K.  G.,  1.67fF. ;  and 
the  author  of  the  work,  Der  Streit  der  Kirche  ;  a  Work  dedicated  to 
the  Christian  nobility  of  the  German ^nation^  I.  c.  2,  L.  1827. 


^  '  280  APPENDIX,  B. 

The  Messiahship  of  which  Jesus  conceived,  was  not 
in  any  respect  a  political  theocracy,  but  purely  a  spir- 
itual one.  He  did  not  draw  it  from  the  notions  which 
the  people  entertained  upon  the  subject,  but  from  the 
word  of  God,  and  it  was  proper  that  he  should  com- 
mence by  doing  so.  Now  he  was  this  true  Messiah, 
and  the  Saviour  having  been  announced  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament under  this  name,  he  could  not  do  otherwise  than 
confess  and  show  himself  to  be  such.  Had  Jesus  consid- 
ered the  idea  of  a  Messiah  only  as  an  incidental,  national, 
and  temporal  one,  he  would  not  have  made  use  of  it. 
He  looked  upon  it  however  as  positively  certain,  as  firm- 
ly decreed  by  God,  that  a  Messiah  should  make  his  ap- 
pearance, and  that  Ae  himself  v^^s  the  person.  The  exe- 
cution of  his  entire  work,  therefore,-  was  connected  with 
his  being  recognised  as  the  Messiah.  He  could  not  be 
the  spiritual  Saviour  if  he  were  not  the  divine  instrument 
of  redemption  pointed  out  in  the  Old  Testament,  under  the 
name  of  the  Messiah.  As  the  Jews,  however,  had  blend- 
ed erroneous,  impure,  and  secondary  conceptions  with  the 
pure  idea  of  the  Messiah,  Jesus  was  obliged  to  conduct 
with  much  reserve  in  making  known  his  claims  to  this  digni- 
ty and  correct  the  notions  entertained  by  his  countrymen  up- 
on the  subject.  All  his  operations  and  instructions  were  di- 
rected to  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  as  has  alrea- 
dy been  shown  by  Reinhard  with  sufficient  clearness,  by 
whom  also  a  lucid  explanation  has  been  given  of  the  real 
character  of  his  last  entrance  into  Jerusalem. 

That  (2)  in  the  places  cited,  Christ  has  expressed  even 
a  hope  of  commencing  the  establishment  of  an  earthly  king- 
dom, cannot  be  admitted  without  directly  contradicting  the 
explanations  which  he  himself  has  given  of  them  in  other 
places.  The  coming  of  Jesus  can  unquestionably  be  un- 
derstood of  different  events  as  is  the  case  with  the  coming 
of  God  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  from  Matt.  26:  64, 
when  Jesus  was  already  devoted  to  death,  and  cannot 
possibly  have  been  thinking  of  the  establishment  of  his 
kingdom  as  an  earthly  one,  it  is  evident,  that  this  coming 
was  a  revelation  of  his   heavenly  dominion  and  power 


APPENDIX,  B.  281 

which  Was  soon  to  be  commenced  and  gradually  be  devel- 
oped ;  that  this  revelation  commenced  immediately  after 
his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  became  manifest  in  the 
out  pouring  of  the  spirit  and  the  establishment  of  the 
church,  was  exhibited  in  the  judgement  brought  upon 
the  whole  Jewish  nation,  was  continued  in  guiding  and 
extending  the  church,  and  will  be  continued  from  age  to 
age  until  the  final  judgement  of  the  world.  This  coming 
of  Jesus,  therefore,  many  of  his  contemporaries  actually 
lived  to  see. 

(3)  That  a  change  took  place  in  the  direction  of  Christ's 
nind; — that  in  the  former  period  of  his  life,  it  was  serene, 
and  in  the  latter,  melancholy,  is  an  assumption  altogether 
without  proof,  a  pure  matter  of  fiction.     The  joy  which 
je  feh  on  the  successful  commencement  of  his  work  by 
the  messengers  whom  he  had  sent   forth,  Luke  10:  21, 
had  not  the  least  connexion  with  the  hope  of  being  pub- 
licly recognised  by  his  nation.     On  the  other  hand,  the 
expression  of  joy  which  he  uttered  on  this  occasion,  fol- 
lowed the  denunciation  of  fearful  woes  against  those  cities 
which  believed  not  on  his  name,  vs.  13. — 15.     Nor  in 
Luke  4:  18 — 21,  is  there  any  thing  to  be  found  of  those 
high  and  serene  hopes  which  Jesus  is  supposed  to  have 
had  at  the  commencement  of  his  career.     On  the  contra- 
ry, having  sharply  censured  the  insensibility  of  his  hearers, 
vs.  23 — 27,  the   short  and   transitory  emotions  which  he 
had  excited  in  their  minds,  were  followed  by  the  greatest 
aversion  and  contempt,  vs.  28,  29. — To  attribute  the  suf- 
ferings of  Jesus  in  Gethsemane  to  disappointed   hopes,  is 
to  assume  as  proved  what  in  the  first  place  needs  proof. 
Or  was  this  frustration  of  cherished  hopes  the  only  con- 
ceivable cause  of  the  struggle  which  he  there  endured  ? 
Certainly  other  and  deeper  causes  are  to  be  discovered. 
With    such  a  tender  heart  indeed  as  Jesus  possessed,  he 
could  not  avoid  being  deeply  afflicted  on  looking  forward 
to  the  civil  destruction  of  his  nation,  especially  when  in  it, 
he  recognised  the  judgement  of  God,  a  sign  of  the  great- 
est corruption  and  obduracy  of  heart,  and  the  coming,  far 
more  extensive,  spiritual  deterioration  of  his  countrymen, 
24* 


282  APPENDIX,  B. 

Matt.  12:  45.  That  Jesus,  however,  ever  flattered  him- 
self with  being  able  to  effect  the  civil  deliverance  of  his 
people,  this  circumstance  does  not  afford  the  least  proof. 

And  finally,  (4)  as  to  the  earthly  expectations  of  the 
apostles  or  the  Chiliastic  opinions  of  later  Christians,  we 
Jcnow,  that  Christ  labored  incessantly  to  oppose  the  for- 
mer  from  the  very  commencement,  and  that  the  latter 
were  introduced  into  Christianity  from  Judaism,  and  can- 
not possibly  be  deduced  from  Jesus. 

The  assertion  respecting  the  belief  of  the  apostolic 
church  is  not  merely  destitute  of  tenable  proof.  It  stands 
directly  opposed  to  the  strongest  arguments.  The  whole 
Evangelical  history  shows  that  from  the  very  out-set,  Je- 
sus expected  nothing  else  than  to  be  misapprehended  and 
rejected  by  his  people,  and  consequently,  that  he  can  never 
have  thought  of  being  able  to  effect  their  civil  deliverance. 
He  declared  his  expectations,  on  his  very  first  appearance  in 
Nazareth,  as  we  find  in  Luke  4:  23 — 27,  where  he  says 
expressly,  that  it  was  not  in  his  native  country,  but  among 
the  heathen  and  strangers  that  he  should  find  persons  to  ac- 
knowledge him,  as  was  formerly  the  case  with  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  and  the  event  even  in  Nazareth  showed  how  cor- 
rectly he  had  judged  in  this  respect.  Hence,  he  not  only 
calculated  that  many  in  Jerusalem  would  exercise  a  short 
and  superficial  faith  in  him,  John  2:  23,  but  he  went  so 
far  as  to  maintain  a  wise  and  shy  reserve  in  regard  to  them, 
because  he  knew  what  was  in  man,  vs.  24,  25.  In  one 
of  the  first  discourses  which  he  delivered  to  his  disciples. 
Matt.  5:  11.  Luke  6:  22,  he  declared  that  they  would  be 
reviled  and  persecuted  on  his  account ;  that  men  would 
hate  them,  excommunicate  them,  reproach  them,  and 
cast  out  their  name  as  evil  for  the  Son  of  man's  sake. 
How  can  such  annunciations  as  these  made  by  Jesus  at 
the  very  commencement  of  his  ministry,  be  reconciled 
with  the  supposition  that  he  entertained  the  hope  of  being 
recognised  ?  When,  as  we  are  told  in  Matt.  8:  8,  9,  the 
heathen  centurion  exhibited  remarkable  faith  in  Jesus,  he 
immediately  broke  out  in  the  confession  that  no  such  faith 
was  to  be  found  in  Israel ;    that  the  children  of  the  king- 


APPENDIX,  B.  283 

dom  were  to  be  rejected,  while  strangers  from  afar  should 
be  introduced  into  his  kingdom.  How  plainly  do  such 
sudden  assertions,  called  forth  as  they  were,  by  some  in- 
cidental circumstance,  betray  the  expectations  of  his 
soul !  Where  can  a  single  assertion  of  the  opposite  kind 
be  met  with,  the  meaning  of  which  is  equally  clear  ?  Not 
even  his  brethren  and  relatives  believed  upon  him,  John 
7:  5.  Could  he  anticipate  any  thing  more  from  the  rest 
of  the  multitude  ?  He  was  well  acquainted  with  them, 
and  knew  that  it  was  impossible  to  please  them.  Matt. 
11:  16 — 19.  On  this  very  account,  he  could  not  think 
of  the  civil  deliverance  of  his  people  !  Even  John 
the  Baptist  had  a  presentiment  of  the  approaching  de- 
struction of  his  nation.  Matt.  3:  10.  Was  Christ  less 
acquainted  with  the  future  ? — With  passages  taken  from 
the  latter  part  of  Christ's  life  we  have  nothing  to  do  here, 
as  it  is  admitted  that  then  he  had  relinquished  all  idea 
of  being  recognised  by  his  people  as  their  theocratical 
king. — Should  it  be  asked  by  way  of  objection,  why 
Jesus  nevertheless  used  his  utmost  exertions  to  bring  the 
people  to  believe  in  him  as  the  Messiah  ?  why  he  act- 
ed as  if  he  supposed  they  would  recognise  him  as  such, 
if  he  indulged  in  no  hope  of  the  kind  ?  a  satisfactory 
answer  is  at  hand.  Jesus  was  called  to  be  the  Saviour 
of  mankind,  to  found  a  kingdom  of  God  and  invite  all 
men  into  it.  He  was  obliged  to  fulfil  this  call,  and  make 
known  the  truth  to  every  one,  whatever  might  be  the  con- 
sequence. The  performance  of  a  duty  does  not  depend 
upon  the  failure  or  success  of  the  operations  con- 
templated. The  herald  of  truth  is  obliged  to  lay  down 
his  testimony,  whether  men  listen  to  it  or  not.  Love 
should  never  grow  weary  in  making  efforts,  and  new 
ones  too,  for  reforming  those  who  err,  however  ineffectual 
they  may  be.*  Jesus  acted  in  such  a  spirit.  He  worked 
the  works  of  Him  who  sent  him,  how  litde  soever  the 
result  corresponded  with  his  efforts.     How  truly  were  the 


*  Fichte  has  some  excellent  remarks  upon  this  subject,  Anweis. 
zum  seligen  Leben,  S.  301  f. 


S84  APPENDIX,   B. 

words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  49:  4,  fulfilled  with  regard 
to  him  :  "  Then  I  said,  I  have  labored  in  vain,  I  have 
spent  my  strength  for  nought  and  in  vain.  Yet  surely 
my  judgement  is  with  the  Lord,  and  my  work  with  my 
God."  He  was  bound,  at  least,  not  to  fail  by  his  re- 
missness to  exculpate  God  in  this  respect,  and  deprive 
the  nation  of  all  excuse.  Besides,  it  should  be  recollect- 
ed, that  though  the  nation  as  a  body  did  not  receive  him, 
yet  there  were  not  wanting  individuals  who  believed  upon 
him,  and  became  a  good  seed  from  which  issued  the 
first  church  of  Christ.  In  this  respect,  his  labor  was  not 
in  vain. 

Moreover,  the  supposition  that  Jesus  expected  to  be 
recognised  by  his  nation  and  thus  enabled  to  found  an 
external  theocracy,  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  fact,  that, 
from   the  very  commencement  of  his  career,  he  had  a 
positive  conviction  that  he  was  to  suffer  a  violent  death. 
Of  the  importance  of  this  fact  we  may  be  assured  from 
the  strenuous  efforts  which  its  opposers  have  made  to  de- 
prive those  passages  brought  forward  in  its  favor,  of  all 
their  force  ;  or  ratlier,  as  this  is  impossible,  from  the  vio- 
lence   with  which  these  opposers  have  assailed    them. 
John  2:  19:  22,  has  already  been  remarked   upon  in   a 
note  on  pp.  72  and  73.     Another  meaning  has  indeed 
been  opposed  to  the  one  given  to  these  verses  by  the 
Evangelist,  but  if  the  authors  of   it  were  honest,  they 
would  confess  that  it  has  been   brought  forward   merely 
because  of  its  incompatibility  with   Christ's   prediction  of 
his  death  and  resurrection.     Christ,  however,  foretold  his 
death  with  equal  clearness  in  the  dialogue  which  he  held 
with  Nicodemus.  This  dialogue  bears  the  strongest  marks 
of  genuineness  and  authenticity,  as  it  exhibits  a  clear  con- 
nexion, and  a  regular  and  well  meditated  progression. 
Jesus  continues  the  thread  of  the  discourse  wnth  a  steady 
hand,  notwithstanding  all  the  digressions  of  Nicodemus. 
He  first  informs  this  ruler  of  the  necessity  there  is  of  his 
being  born  of  the  spirit  through  an  external  consecra- 
tion, inasmuch   as  the  Jews  must  experience  such  a  new 
birth  before  they  can  be  admitted  into  the  kingdom  of 


J 


APPENDIX,  B.  285 


heaven.  He  then  speaks  of  the  means  by  which  this 
spiritual  regeneration  must  be  effected,  and  after  severely- 
censuring  Nicodemus  for  the  ignorance  which  obliges  him 
though  a  scribe  to  inquire  after  this  means,  leads  him  deeper 
and  deeper  into  the  secrets  of  the  divine  will,  and  affirms 
that  he  himself  is  the  Messiah  sent  from  heaven  for  this 
purpose,  and  to  effect  it  and  procure  the  redemption  of  all 
according  to  the  requisitions  of  the  love  of  God,  must  be 
lifted  upon  the  cross.  And,  finally,  he  concludes  with  se- 
riously reminding  Nicodemus,  and  that  too  in  a  manner 
which  must  have  cut  him  to  the  heart,  that  he  must  believe 
on  the  Son  of  God  and  openly  advocate  this  cause  as  an  in- 
dispensable condition  of  salvation,  and  also  that  unbelief 
springs  out  of  a  corrupt  heart  and  will  end  in  destruction. 
In  close  connexion  with  the  chain  by  which  all  parts  of 
this  dialogue  are  linked  together,  is  to  be  found  the  lifting 
v'p  of  the  Son  of  man  by  which  this  redemption  is  to  be 
effected ; — a  thing  reckoned  among  heavenly  things,  or 
those  which  can  be  known  only  by  divine  revelation,  and 
entirely  distinct  from  earthly  things  or  those  which  can 
be  ascertained  by  common  experience  (such  as  the  deep 
ruin  of  mankind  and  their  need  of  salvation,)  and  extoll- 
ed as  affording  the  highest  proof  of  the  love  of  God  ;-^ 
in  far  too  close  a  connexion  indeed,  and  constituting  too 
essential  a  part  of  the  chain  itself,  to  allow  of  listening  to 
the  accusation  that  the  passage  was  foisted  in  by  John.* 

""  Comp.  the  Commentary  of  De  Wette  just  quoted,  p,  89,  Note. 
There  is  no  reason  given  sufficient  to  show  why  John  may  not  have 
been  admitted  as  a  hearer  to  take  part  in  this  important  dialogue. 
It  is  true,  that  Nicodemus  wished  for  no  witnesses.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  any  but  the  inimical, 
and  had  no  reason  to  suspect  that  the  innocent  apostles  would  be- 
tray him  to  the  rulers  as  a  secret  disciple  of  Jesus.  The  supposi- 
tion that  Jesus  treated  his  apostles  in  so  exoteric  a  manner  as  to 
exclude  them  from  dialogues  which  he  held  with  still  more  secret 
and  more  confidential  friends  than  they  were,  is  a  groundless  fic- 
tion, and  one  which  agrees  but  badly  with  the  frankness  of  Christ's 
character  and  the  intimacy  of  his  intercourse  with  the  apostles.  To 
suppose  in  addition  to  this  that  Matt.  17:  3  refers  tp  secret  allies 
altogether  unknown  to  the  apostles  who  allowed  themselves  to  em- 
ploy a  pretended  voice  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  deception,  is  to 
fall  directly  into  the  profanations  of  the  history  of  Jesus  whieh 


286  APPENDIX,    B. 

In  addition  to  this  proof  taken  from  the  Gospel  of  John, 
we  find  testimony  of  an  equally  early  date,  in  Matt.  9: 
15,  that  Jesus  entertained  a  certain  expectation  of  death, 
in  the  figurative  language  of  his  reply  to  the  question, 
"  Why  do  not  thy  disciples  fast?"  The  days  will  come 
when  the  bridegroom  shall  he  taken  away  from  the  chil- 
dren of  the  bride-chamber;  language  which  evidently 
alludes  to  his  death  and  the  sorrow  with  which  it  would 
fill  his  disciples. 

But  how  can  it  any  longer  be  considered  as  in  the 
least  degree  incredible  that  Jesus  knew  the  destiny  which 
awaited  him  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  career, 
when  it  is  beyond  controversy  that  he  did,  early  in  the 
second  period  of  it  ?  The  causes  which  authorized  him 
to  entertain  such  an  expectation  then,  were  in  active  oper- 
ation and  well  known  to  him  when  he  entered  upon  his 
ministry.  He  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  the  wicked  dispositions  of  the  rulers  and  the 
people,  and  the  impetuosity  of  the  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees.  What  else  could  have  been  implied  in  the  pro- 
phetical language  of  Simeon,  with  which  Christ  was  cer- 
tainly acquainted,  Luke  2:  34,  35,  than  that  a  painful 
exit  awaited  him  ?  That  was  the  sword  which  was  to 
pierce  through  the  soul  of  Mary.  And,  finally,  if  we 
reflect  upon  the  predictions  relating  to  the  Messiah  con- 
tained in  the  prophets  in  which  his  history  and  destina- 
tion are  clearly  pointed  out,  (xar«  to  ojgia^svov,  Luke 
22:  22,)  with  which  Christ  must  certainly  have  been  for 
a  long  time  acquainted  when  he  commenced  his  public 
ministry,  we  shall  find  that  nothing  could  have  been 
•more  certain  to  him  than  the  death  to  which  his  calling 
would  subject  him. 

Moreover,  any  one  who  is  inclined  to  admit  the  sup- 
position which  we  are  here  controverting,  ought  very  se- 
riously to  consider,  how  the  whole  world  could  have 
been  brought   by  the  united  will  of  the  Jewish  nation 


originated  with  Bahrdt,  upon  which  the  stamp  of  reprobation  has 
Jong  since  been  affixed. 


APPENDIX,  B.  287 

to  recognise  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  without  the  pro- 
duction of  great  political  commotions,  and,  indeed, 
a  complete  overthrow  of  the  existing  state  of  things. 
To  accomplish  such  an  object,  the  spiritual  authority, 
which  could  never  have  been  expected  to  yield  assent 
to  the  decision  of  the  nation,  must  have  been  entirely 
destroyed ;  and  this  could  hardly  have  been  effected 
without  coming  in  contact  with  the  Roman  governmeiit 
by  which  this  authority  was  recognised  and  defended. 
Whither  would  this  have  led  ?  How  directly  opposed 
would  such  undertakings  have  been  to  Christ's  character 
and  what  he  intended  to  effect ! 

The  last  view  which  we  have  to  take,  is,  whether  this 
supposition  is  reconcilable  with  the  dignity  of  Christ's 
character.     It  is  said  that  the   groundless  hopes  which 
Jesus  first  entertained,  resulted   merely  from  an  error  of 
the  understanding,  or  an  opinion  too  favorable  to  man- 
kind, benevolent  persons  often  being  deceived  in  this  re- 
spect,   and    hence,  cast    no  reflections  upon  the  good- 
ness  of    his   heart;  that  on   the  other   hand,  it  proves 
much  to  the  honor  of  Jesus,  that  though  he  had  enter-- 
tained  the  highest,  earthly  hopes,  yet  he  relinquished  them 
as  soon  as  he  found  that  the  will  of  God  was  different  re- 
specting him.     But  is  it  very  much  to  be  doubted  wheth- 
er even  this  view  of  the  subject  will  remove  every  ob- 
jection to  it  out  of  the  way  ?    It  must  necessarily  diminish 
our  reverence  for  Jesus  to  admit,  that  he  at  least  com- 
menced his  public  career  under  the  influence  of  vain 
hopes,  and  was  only  brought  by  a  course  of  time  to  re- 
cognise his  delusion  to  such  a  degree  as  to  change  his 
mode  of  thinking  and  feeling  in  this  respect.     This  is 
not  the  character  of  a  wise  mind,  perfectly  free,  clear, 
and  unconstrained.     Besides,  the  hopes  here  alluded  to 
were  not  purely  spiritual,  but  mixed  with  earthly  expec- 
tations ; — expectations  of  an  earthly  recognition,  which 
could  not  have  remained  in  his  breast  without  thoughts 
of   earthly  honor  and   distinction.      He  who  entertains 
such  hopes,  does  it  certainly  because  he  wishes  for  their 
accomplishment*     Hopes  belong  more  to  the  heart  than 


I 


288  APPENDIX,    B 


to  the  understanding.  In  maintaining  tiiat  Jesus  "  receiv- 
ed these  errors  from  imbibing  the  views  of  his  country- 
men," we  admit  him  to  have  been  touched  and  infect-^ 
ed  with  their  impure  and  national  spirit,  notwithstanding 
the  entire  opposition  which  he  ever  evinced  to  it.  A 
heart  perfectly  pure,  preserves  the  intellect  from  all  the 
deceptions  of  false  hopes,  and  what  diminishes  our  es- 
teem towards  any  one  in  whom  we  discover  such  weak- 
ness, is,  to  find  ourselves  unwillingly  obliged  to  trace 
them  from  the  undertanding  to  the  heart.  Now  if  Jesus 
in  the  last  struggle  of  his  soul,  w^as  pained  at  the  annihi* 
lation  of  his  hopes,  and  even  indulged  a  momentary  anti- 
cipation of  temporal  deliverance,  then  it  affords  us  proof 
that  he  had  not  even  then  entirely  relinquished  them 
as  vain,  and  that  they  must  have  been  deeply  rooted  in  hi$ 
heart,  inasmuch  as  they  fluttered  before  him  in  the  very 
face  of  death.  Is  this  reconcilable  with  the  dignity  of 
Christ  ?  Can  we  admit  this  and  yet  retain  a  full  and  un- 
limited reverence  for  his  person  ? 

II.  That  Christ's  plan  had  the  greatest  universality,  and 
comprehended  all  the  human  race  of  every  age,  is  a 
point  of  the  greatest  importance  in  Reinhard's  investi- 
gation, and  hence,  it  has  been  clearly  and  circumstantially 
developed,  pp.  17 — 28;  and  had  no  other  passages  of 
the  Evangelists  been  appealed  to,  but  those  which  prop- 
erly belong  to  the  subject,  it  is  impossible  to  see  how 
any  one  could  ever  have  had  any  doubts  respecting  the 
compass  of  Christ's  plan.  Doubts,  however,  have  been 
raised.  It  is  admitted  and  must  be,  that  a  plan  of  uni- 
versal extent  is  ascribed  to  Jesus  in  the  Gospels ;  but, 
says  one,  "  neither  Jesus  nor  his  apostles  ever  actually 
had  such  a  comprehensive  plan  before  them,  but  it  was 
formed  in  the  secret  counsels  of  Providence,  who  car- 
ried the  work  commenced  by  Jesus  and  his  apostles  to 
a  much  greater  extent  than  they  ever  anticipated,  and 
brought  it  to  an  extraordinary  result ;  just  as  the  oppo- 
sition of  Martin  Luther  to  the  sale  of  indulgences  proved 
the  means  of  effecting  the  reformation.  The  assertions, 
therefore,  ascribed  to  Jesus  respecting  such  a  plan,  es- 


APPENDIX,   B.  289 

pecially  in  the  Gospel  of  John  which  was  evidently  writ- 
ten at  a  late  period,  are  nothing  more  than  the  views  of 
later  reporters  formed  after  the  event.  Paul,  however, 
in  particular,  contributed  towards  giving  Christianity  uni- 
versal extension,  as  without  him  it  would  probably  have 
always  been  confined  to  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  have 
had  a  corresponding  character."^  In  support  of  this 
opinion,  appeals  are  made  in  part  to  the  words  of  Je- 
sus, Matt.  10:  5.  15:  24,  the  meaning  and  application 
of  which  have  already  been  unfolded  by  Reinhard,  p. 
8 ;  and  in  part  to  the  history  of  the  aposdes,  which 
is  said  clearly  to  prove,  that,  during  the  first  years  of  their 
ministry,  they  had  no  idea  of  spreading  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen,  and  were  utterly  averse  to  receiving  them  into 
the  Christian  church  ;  while,  had  Peter  been  acquainted 
with  Matt.  28:  19,  20,  and  believed  it  to  be  Christ's  will 
that  he  should  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  nations,  it  is  im- 
possible to  comprehend  why  a  vision  should  have  been 
necessary  to  persuade  him  to  visit  the  house  of  Cornelius. 
We  have,  in  the  first  place,  to  answer  these  arguments. 
That  Jesus  did  not  permit  the  apostles  to  go  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  at  the  very  commencement  of 

*  Preparation  had  in  some  measure  been  made  for  this  assertion 
by  the  Fragment  vom  Zweclte  Jesu,  inasmuch  as  the  politico-na- 
tional plan  of  Jesus  is  said  to  have  been  first  transformed  into  a 
universal,  spiritual  one,  by  his  disciples.  Vid.  1.  c.  S.  72fF.  117  f. 
Then,  the  following  have  expressed  the  same  opinion  :  Robr  in  the 
Briefe,  S.  41.  Not.  7. 174.  254.  261,  though  in  doubtful  terms,  comp. 
S.  144. 169—171  ;  Kaiser,  Bibl.  Theologie,  I.  15—22.  25—27.  243  f. ; 
H^feli,  Nachgelass.  Schriften,  herausg.  v.  Stoln,  Winterth.,  II.  1814 
— 15,  B.  II.  S.  73  f. ;  the  author  of  the  work  :  Der  Zweck  Jesu,  ge- 
schichtlich  u.  seelkundlich  dargestellt,  L.  1816,  S.  14.  17—19.  104  s. 
123.  125 ;  against  which  work  perhaps  the  Christmass  Prograra- 
ma  of  Tittmann,  De  lesu  Christo,  rerum  e  consilio  patris  peragen- 
darum  vere  sibi  conscio,  1816,  was  drawn  up ;  particularly  the  re- 
viewer of  Planck's  Geschichte  des  Christenthums,  during  the  pe- 
riod of  its  first  introduction  into  the  world  by  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles, Getting.  1818,  II.,  in  the  Leipz.  L.  Z.,  1810,  Sept.  Nr.  240.  S. 
1917.  The  following,  on  the  other  hand,  adhere  to  Reinhard's  view 
of  the  subject:  Henke,  K.  G.  I.  §  8.  S.40.  5e  Ausg. ;  Linde,  in 
the  above,  S.  29,  and  elsewhere  ;  Oertel,  Christologie,  S.  781 — 
810,  where  a  complete  abstract  is  given  of  Reinhard  ;  Kestner,  Agape, 
S.  43.  Not. ;  Planck,  1.  c.   Kap.  I.  VI.  XL— XIII  '    '      " 

ijeben  Jesu,  S.  50  ff. 

25 


290  APPENDIX,    B. 

their  labors,  was,  for  the  very  wise  reason,  that  it  was  of 
prime  importance  to  scatter  seed  and  lay  a  foundation 
among  the  Jews  before  thinking  of  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen.  The  apostles  however  would  have  been 
prevented  from  all  access  to  the  Jews,  had  they  at  this 
very  time,  opened  intercourse  with  the  gentiles.  Hence, 
the  rule  laid  down  by  Jesus  for  the  direction  of  his  apostles, 
Matt.  10:  5,  was  evidently  applicable  only  to  their  first 
commission  during  his  lifetime,  and  not  intended  for 
all  subsequent  periods.  "Distingue  tempora  et  con- 
cordabit  scriptura."  The  same  is  also  true  of  Matt. 
15:  24.*  In  this  verse,  Jesus  speaks  of  the  limits  to 
which,  during  his  earthly  career,  his  own  personal  ef- 
forts were  to  be  confined,  and  not  of  the  whole  extent  of 
his  commission  as  a  Saviour. — ^In  regard  to  the  apostles, 
it  cannot  appear  strange  to  us,  that  at  the  commence- 
ment of  their  ministry  they  confined  themselves  to  the 
boundaries  of  Judea,  and  made  it  their  first  object  to  lay 
a  firm  foundation  for  a  church  among  their  own  country- 
men, and  to  preserve  and  strengthen  it  as  soon  as  it  was 
planted.     To  infer  from  their  conduct  in  this  respect, 


*  This  passage  is  a  testimony  of  the  faithfulness  with  which,  even 
in  the  midst  of  persecution  from  which  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw, 
Jesus  observed  that  part  of  his  commission  which  called  him  to  at- 
tend personally  to  his  own  ungrateful  country,  and  of  the  purity 
with  which  he  kept  himself  from  every  ambitious  desire  for  extend- 
ing the  sphere  of  his  earthly  labors  as  for  as  possible  ; — an  example 
which  should  serve  as  a  reproof  to  those  men  who  conduct  direct^ 
the  opposite,  and  endeavor  to  extend  the  sphere  of  their  oper- 
ations to  a  great  distance,  while  they  leave  what  lies  immedi- 
ately about  them,  undone.  (Plutarch,  De  Exil.  VIII.  375.  2n(XQ- 
rav  iXax^?,  ravrtjv  xoo^ui  )  The  apparent  hardness  of  the  words 
addressed  to  the  Canaanitish  woman,  vanishes,  when,  with  La- 
vater  in  his  Vermachtniss  an  s.  Freunde,  II.  139,  140,  we  sup- 
pose, that  Christ  did  not  express  his  own  views  of  the  subject, 
but  those  of  the  Jews  in  general,  and  intended  to  try  the  woman  to 
see  whether  she  would  impute  to  him  the  same  mode  of  thinking. 
Or,  if  this  supposition  is  not  authorized  by  the  text  and  the  an- 
swer of  the  woman,  perhaps  Jesus  intended  by  means  of  this  pro- 
verbial comparison,  to  remind  her  of  the  uncleanness  and  unworthi- 
ness  of  the  heathen,  and  accordingly  to  bring  her  to  the  last  and  try- 
ing test.  He,  pure  and  holy  as  he  was,  might  certainly  in  the  se- 
rious language  of  the  law,  upbraid  sinners  with  their  deep  ruin. 


APPENDIX,  B.  291 

that  the  idea  of  receiving  the  heathen  into  the  church 
was  entirely  foreign  from  their  minds,  we  have  no  author- 
ity. Peter  speaks  of  the  destination  of  Christianity  to 
become  universal  in  the  very  first  sermon  that  he  deliver- 
ed, in  which  he  says,  "  For  the  promise  is  unto  you,  and 
to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many 
as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call,"  Acts  2:  39.  The  afar 
off  in  this  place  can  be  no  others  than  the  heathen.* 
The  same  is  also  true  of  Acts  3:  25, 26,  in  which  he  makes 
the  promise  given  to  Abraham,  that  in  Ms  seed  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  should  he  blessed,  refer  to  Christ,  and 
gives  us  clearly  to  understand  that  he  looked  upon  Christ 
as  the  Saviour  of  all  nations  ;  and  when  he  adds,  "  unto 
you  first,  God  having  raised  up  his  Son  Jesus,"  it  is  an 
evident  intimation,  that,  in  his  time,  the  Gentiles  were 
also  to  be  called  in  due  order.  When  the  apostles  were 
to  commence  preaching  to  the  heathen,  was  indeed  not 
yet  certainly  known  to  them.  They  had  received  no 
command  respecting  it  from  their  Lord.  It  was  natural, 
therefore,  that  they  should  wait  until  they  had  received 
a  hint  from  him  to  this  effect,  and  were  called  to  enter 
upon  the  work  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
During  this  first  period,  also,  it  could  do  no  injury  for 
them  to  permit  the  Jewish  Christians  to  observe  the  ex- 
ternal forms  of  the  Jewish  law,  and  keep  out  of  view  all 
idea  of  their  abolition,  although  the  words  of  Stephen, 
Acts  6:  1 1 — 14,  which  the  Jews  interpreted  as  scandal, 
authorize  us  to  conclude  that  the  idea,  that  the  temple 
was  to  be  destroyed  and  an  end  put  to  the  Mosaic  con- 
stitution, was  not  altogether  a  foreign  one  to  the  first 
Christians.  In  the  mean  time,  the  period  arrived,  when 
God  intended  the  Gospel  should  be  extended  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  Judea  and  the  heathen  called  in,  and 


*  With  respect  to  oi  li$  ^laxqav,  compare  Isa.  57:  19.  Eph.  2:  13, 
Vfisig  oi  Ttots  ovttg  uaxqav,  (in  which  place  Wetstein  is  to  be  com- 
pared, and  Schottgen,  Hor.  Hebr.,  I.  761,  who  from  Rabbinical  pas- 
sages, prove,  that  the  Jews  called  the  heathen,  CJiilrn,)  for  which, 
ifl  V.  12,  we  have,  a7iii7.lorqmuiv()i  rtjg  noXireiag  rov  la'qatjk,  y,ai  55- 
yoi  TOiV  dia&rixwv  rtjg  inayytXiag. 


292  APPENDIX,  B. 

then  it  appeared  as  if  Peter  had  not  concerned  himself 
at  all  with  the  thought  of  receiving  the  heathen  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Church,  as  if,  indeed,  he  had  been  totally- 
ignorant  of  any  such  intention.  Acts  10:  34, 35,  and  hence, 
an  especial  vision  was  necessary  in  order  to  bring  him  to 
Cornelius.  It  is  easy  however  to  remove  even  this  suspi- 
cion. We  may  either  admit  with  Semler  (Beantwortung 
des  Fragments,  S.  116  f.)  that  this  vision  did  not  appear 
for  the  sake  of  Peter  alone,  who,  from  associating  with 
his  master,  had  long  since  learned  to  hold  intercourse 
with  the  heathen  and  the  Samaritans,  but  for  the  sake 
of  weak  Jewish  Christians,  who  considered  it  unlawful 
to  associate  with  foreigners  in  domestic  life ;  or,  if 
the  vision  was  necessary  for  Peter  himself,  it  should 
be  recollected,  that,  though  the  idea  of  the  heathen's 
being  called  in,  was  not  a  new  one  to  him,  yet  the  exe- 
cution of  it,  partly  on  account  of  his  deep-rooted,  nation- 
al aversion  to  the  heathen  in  general,  and  partly  on  ac- 
count of  his  fearfulness  and  timidity  at  the  offence  which 
it  would  create  among  the  zealous,  Jewish  Christians, 
might  appear  difficult,  and  render  a  vision  necessary  for 
giving  him  a  strong  impulse  and  enabling  him  to  over- 
come every  thing  like  prejudice.*  This  object  was  ac- 
complished, and  a  beginning  actually  made  by  Peter  at 
converting  the  gentiles.  Those  who  contended  with  him 
about  it.  Acts  11:2,  were  not  the  apostles,  who  would 
not  have  been  called  ol  Ix  neQiTOf-irjg^  but  they  were 
other  Jewish  Christians,  probably  such  as  were  attached 
to  the  Pharisees,  as  from  Acts  15:  5,  we  learn  that  some 
of  this  sect  rose  up   against  the  apostles. 

*  The  words  "  of  a  truth  I  perceive,"  trt^  ah]9iiag  xaraXau^avo- 
f.iai.  Acts  10:  34,  need  not  be  supposed  to  imply  that  Peter  had  now 
obtained  this  view  of  the  subject  for  the  first  time,  but  may  prop- 
erly be  understood  as  referring  to  a  conviction  rendered  more  percep- 
tible by  the  thing  itself,  and  a  living  and  confirmed  apprehension  of 
the  truth.  Ernesti,  Neueste  Theol.  Bibliothek,  III.  72  ;  nunc  factp, 
ipso  usu  intelligo  ;  now  I  am  taught  by  the  thing  itself,  now  I  see 
from  a  plain  and  obvious  example,  namely,  the  truth  of  what  I  was 
formerly  taught  by  Jesus,  that  God,  &c.  Storr,  Observatt.  ad  Ana- 
log, et  Syntax.  Hebr.,  p.  8;  penitius  intelligo. 


APPENDIX,  B.  293 

If  the  arguments  which  have  now  been  examined  are 
not  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  expressions  contained  in 
Christ's  discourses,  indicative  of  the  greatest  universality, 
were  ?l  post  factum  interpolation,  then,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  are  the  strongest  reason's  to  be  brought  forward 
against  this  supposition,  and  in  support  of  the  conviction, 
that  Jesus  himself  has  clearly  spoken  of  the  universality 
of  his  plan.  That  declarations  of  this  kind  are  to  be 
met  with  chiefly  or  especially  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  is 
not  a  fact,  but  is  opposed  to  occular  testimony.  Should 
any  one  be  inclined  to  count  them,  it  is  a  question, 
whether  he  would  not  find  the  number  of  such  passages 
the  most  numerous  in  the  three  first  Gospels.  But  of 
what  use  is  it  to  do  so?  It  is  enough  that  the  number  of 
those  expressions  which  go  to  prove  the  universality  of 
Christ's  plan,  is  exceedingly  great.  And  were  none  of 
them  uttered  by  Christ  himself?  Were  they  all  foisted 
into  his  discourses  in  the  first  place,  by  the  Evan- 
gelists ?  Can  we  imagine  that  they  may  have  done  this 
m  total  ignorance  ?  or,  if  they  were  conscious  of  doing 
it,  can  we  reconcile  such  conduct  with  their  honesty  ?  If 
so,  it  would  follow,  that  the  aposdes  far  exceeded  Jesus 
in  mental  cultivation  and  benevolent  extension  of  thought, 
as  his  unlimited  plan  would  have  derived  its  greatness  and 
extent  from  them  in  the  first  place,  and  this,  to  every 
considerate  man  would  be  a  manifest  absurdity.  What 
militates  most  decidedly  against  the  pretension  that 
Christ's  discourses  were  thus  interpolated  or  extended,  is 
the  fact,  that  these  expressions  are  so  thoroughly  and 
firmly  interwoven  with  the  whole  construction  and  the 
historical  incidents  of  every  discourse,  as  to  render  it  ne- 
cessary for  him,  who  imagines  a  few  single  words  or 
phrases  to  have  been  added,  also  to  admit  that  these  dis- 
courses, historical  narratives  and  parables,  were  either 
forged  or  have  been  totally  disfigured.  This  can  be  ren- 
dered evident  by  various  examples.  How  naturally  is 
Christ's  expression,  Matt.  8:  11:  12,  respecting  the  ad- 
mission of  the  heathen  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and 
the  exclusion  of  the  Jews,  occasioned  by  the  admiration 
25* 


294  APPENDIX,  B. 

into  which  he  had  just  been  thrown  by  observing  the 
strength  of  a  heathen's  faith  !  How  exactly  does  the 
similar  expression,  Matt.  21:  43,  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  should  be  taken  from  the  Jews  and  given  to  the 
heathen,  correspond  with  what  is  said  in  the  parable, 
V.  41,  respecting  the  husbandman  and  his  vineyard  !  How 
intimately  is  a  similar  denunciation,  Luke  13:  28 — 30, 
connected  with  his  answer  to  a  question  which  had  just 
been  proposed  to  him,  vs.  23 — 27  !  Who  in  such  and 
similar  cases  can  point  out  the  least  traces  of  later  addi- 
tions obviously  made  by  a  foreign  hand  ?  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  parables,  in  which,  under  figurative 
representations,  Christ  so  often  represents  his  kingdom  as 
designed  to  embrace  all  mankind  ?  When  he  explains 
the  field  as  meaning  the  world,  Matt.  13:  38,  and  com- 
pares his  church  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed  which  a 
man  took  and  sowed  in  his  field,  which,  though  the 
least  of  all  seeds,  when  grown,  is  a  tree  of  such  great  ex- 
tent, that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  make  nests  in 
the  branches  of  it,  31,  32  ; — when,  in  the  parable  of  the 
vineyard.  Matt.  21:  33 — 41,  and  that  of  the  royal  mar- 
riage, 22:  1 — 10,  he  exhibits  the  alternating  destiny  of 
the  Jews  and  heathen  ; — when,  in  Luke  15:  11 — 32,  un- 
der the  image  of  a  younger  son,  he  so  touchingly  portrays 
the  actual  return  of  the  heathen  to  the  house  of  their 
Father,  God  ; — do  none  of  these  parables  originate  with 
Jesus  himself?  Have  they  all  been  foisted  into  his  dis- 
courses by  the  Evangelists  ?  What  a  strange,  presump- 
tuous, gratuitous  supposition  is  this  !  The  most  important 
of  Christ's  directions.  Matt.  28:  18 — 20,  also  bears  the 
internal  characteristics  of  genuineness.  It  is  perfectly 
connected  in  itself,  and  corresponds  exactly  with  sim- 
ilar directions  in  Mark  16:  15.  Luke  24:  47.  John  20: 
21 — ^23.  As  to  those  expressions  of  Jesus  respect- 
ing his  kingdom  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  John,  it  may 
be  observed,  that  they  are  not  less  intimately  interwoven 
with  the  context  of  the  discourses  in  which  they  are  to 
be  found  in  this*  Gospel,  than  those  in  the  others.  The 
discourse   of  Jesws  contained    in   the  third  chapter   of 


APPENDIX,  B.  295 

John,  respecting  which  we  made  some  remarks,  p.  284,  is 
distinguished  for  its  progression  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  gradually  opens  a  wide  and  clear  prospect  to  the  still 
contracted  mind  of  Nicodemus.  After  having  assured  this 
ruler  that  the  lifting  up,  (v.  14)  or  the  giving  (v.  16)  of 
the  Son  of  man  was  necessary  in  order  that  whosoever 
believed  in  him  should  be  saved,  (v.  15)  Jesus  gives  him 
a  full  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  this  phraseology, 
which  was  doubtless  strange  to  him,  by  asserting  in  vs.  1 6, 
17,  that  the  love  of  God  extended  to  all,  and  that  the  Son 
of  God  had  not  been  sent  into  the  world  for  its  punish- 
ment, as  the  Jews  thought,  but  for  its  salvation.  Now  who, 
in  a  discourse  so  clearly  and  closely  connected  as  this  is, 
can  discern  the  garbling  hand  of  an  interpolator  ?  And  yet 
were  any  part  of  it  interpolated  we  should  certainly  discov- 
er its  traces.  We  go  on  to  the  fourth  chapter.  In  what  a 
natural  and  easy  manner  is  the  important  declaration  of  Je- 
sus, vs.  21 — ^24,  brought  in  by  way  of  reply  to  the  question 
of  the  Samaritan  woman  ?  and  how  plainly  does  it  refer 
to  a  universal  worship  of  God, — a  worship,  to  be  limited 
to  no  place  ?  What  reason  is  there  for  any  suspicion  that 
this  dialogue  has  received  any  ornamental  touches  from  a 
second  hand?  We  find  the  same  to  be  true  also  with 
respect  to  chap,  vi ;  in  which,  by  way  of  contrast  with 
the  manna  procured  for  the  people  by  Moses,  Christ,  with 
perfect  ease,  introduces  a  description  of  the  spiritual  bread 
which  is  presented  in  himself  and  is  indispensable  to  all, 
and  carries  it  through  his  entire  discourse.  Chap.  10: 
16  contains  one  of  the  clearest  expressions  respect- 
ing those  who  are  considered  as  belonging  to  his  king- 
dom. Can  this  verse  be  excepted  as  a  base  interpola- 
tion and  at  variance  with  all  the  rest  ?  The  same  ques- 
tion may  be  repeated  with  respect  to  chap.  12:  23,  24, 
where  the  much  fruit  which  the  death  of  Christ  was  to 
bring  forth,  certainly  refers  to  something  more  than  mere- 
ly to  the  Jewish  nation,  and  where  these  words  are  most 
intimately  connected  with  the  visit  of  the  Greeks,  v.  20, 
which  occasioned  them.  In  chap.  14:  12,  the  single 
He  that    belie veth  on  me    shall  do  greater 


296  APPENDIX,  B. 

works  than  those  which  I  do,"*  has  a  definite  reference  to 
the  blessed  effects  which  should  attend  the  labors  of  the 
apostles  among  the  heathen,  and  is  a  sentence  which  no 
interpolator  would  ever  have  thought  of  falsely  ascribing 
to  Christ.  The  prayer  which  Christ  uttered,  chap. 
XVII.,  will  certainly  produce  an  impression  upon  every 
susceptible  reader,  which  must  constrain  him  to  admit,  that 
it  flowed  from  Christ's  very  heart,  and  yet,  even  this 
contains  traces  of  a  heart  in  Jesus  which  embraced  all 
men  in  its  grasp,  vs.  2,  18,  20,  21,  23.  And,  finally, 
the  testimony  which  Christ  bore  in  the  presence  of  Pi- 
late respecting  the  purely  spiritual  nature  of  his  kingdom 
and  its  destination  to  become  more  extensive  than  all  the 
other  kingdoms  of  the  world,  chap.  18:  36,  37,  bears 
upon  the  very  face  of  it,  marks  of  the  dignified  character 
of  its  author.  Now  he,  who  declares  all  these  expres- 
sions of  Christ,  by  no  means  few  in  number,  to  be  spurious, 
to  be  additions  made  by  reporters,  notwithstanding  their 
internal  marks  of  truth  and  the  close  connexion  in  which 
they  stand  with  the  context  of  the  rest  of  the  discourse,— he, 
who  does  this,  if  he  does  not  wish  strong  expressions  and 
wilful  hypotheses  to  pass  for  valid  proof,  is  bound  to  sup- 
port his  assertion  by  clear  and  convincing  arguments. 
Until  he  does  so,  we  are  justified  in  putting  perfect  con- 
fidence in  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists. 

And  this  we  are  justified  in  doing  so  much  the  more 
from  the  fact,  that  these  accounts  respecting  the  univer- 
sality of  Christ's  plan  harmonize  completely  with  the 
other  contents  of  the  Gospels.  The  supposition  that  Je- 
sus intended  to  labor  for  the  salvation  of  all  mankind, 
agrees   with  the  spirit  of  what  he  taught ;  whereas  the 


*  The  word  ««/Loj'«  in  this  place  cannot  refer  to  miracles,  for  in 
this  respect,  the  apostlies  did  nothing  which  could  be  denominated 
greater  than  v^hat  Christ  did  ;  but  it  must  be  taken  in  an  absolute 
sense.  Christ  speaks  of  what  was  to  be  effected  in  the  spiritual 
world,  or  of  the  regeneration  of  the  heathen,  which  would  be  a 
greater  miracle  than  any  of  those  which  he  performed  in  the  visible 
world,  and  consequently  in  this  respect,  he  was  to  be  excelled  by  the 
apostles.     Comp.  Storr,  Opusc.  Acad.  III.  151 — 155. 


APPENDIX,   B.  297 

opposite  does  not.  The  religion  which  he  made  known 
was  in  every  respect  adapted  to  become  the  religion  of  the 
world.  It  satisfies  all  the  religious  necessities  of  our 
hearts.  The  position,  that  the  paternal  love  of  God  ex- 
tends to  all,  is  one  of  the  most  definite  marks  of  its  uni- 
versal character.  Now  are  we  not  authorized  from  this 
to  draw  an  inference  as  to  the  similar  character  of 
its  founder  ?  Had  his  intentions  been  limited  to  his  own 
people,  his  religion  would  also  have  assumed  a  national 
character.  The  universality  of  a  system  of  religion,  how- 
ever, constrains  us  to  admit  that  its  author's  plan  was  also 
universal.  The  same  is  likewise  true  of  the  manner  in 
which  Christ  speaks  of  himself.  He  lays  claim  to 
the  qualities,  dignity  and  authority,  of  an  exalted,  superhu- 
man, and  divine  personage ;  (as  may  here  be  taken  as  a 
lemma  from  the  Articles  of  faith.)  If  we  admit  this,  we 
must  accede  to  Christ  the  dignity  of  a  universal  Saviour. 
If  he  represents  himself  as  the  supreme  messenger  of  God, 
as  having  come  from  heaven  itself,  can  he  have  any  thing 
less  in  view  than  the  good  of  all  men  ?  He  lays  claim  to 
all  power  in  heaven  and  earth.  What  else  can  he  intend 
than  that  all  shall  submit  to  him  ?  He  calls  himself  the 
future  judge  of  man.  Does  not  this  presuppose  a  gen- 
eral relation  in  which  he  stands  to  all  men,  and  a  uni- 
versal extension  of  the  word  by  means  of  which  they  are 
to  be  brought  to  recognise  him  as  such  ?  He  asserts  his  aid 
to  be  indispensable  to  the  happiness  of  all,  and  represents 
himself  alone  as  having  opened  a  way  to  the  Father.  How 
could  he  say  in  plainer  terms  that  he  is  a  universal  Saviour  ? 
And,  finally,  he  affirms  that  He  is  the  Saviour  announced 
by  the  prophets  ; — that  in  him  those  prophecies  are  fulfilled. 
They,  however,  are  unquestionably  of  universal  applica- 
tion and  speak  in  the  clearest  terras  of  the  salvation,  not 
of  the  Israelitish  nation  merely,  but  of  all  nations.  He, 
therefore,  who  declares  himself  to  be  the  object  of  these 
prophecies,  must  have  had  a  definite  plan  in  view  for  ef- 
fecting the  salvation  of  all  men.  In  short,  the  whole 
picture  which  the  Evangelists  have  spread  open  before 
us  respecting  Jesus,  must  be  altogether   a  false  and  dis- 


298  APPENDIX,    C. 

figured  one,  and  besides,  have  been  invented  by  men  en- 
tirely destitute  of  art,  if  that  which  constitutes  its  princi- 
pal trait, — a  heart  filled  with  love  and  a  warm  regard  for 
the  interests  of  the  whole  human  race — was  added  by 
another  hand. 


C.  p.  85. 

Respecting  the  hypothesis  of  the  early  extension  of  Christianity 
by  means  of  a  secret  order. 

That  Jesus  never  once  availed  himself  of  the  assist- 
ance of  a  secret  order  for  the  execution  of  his  plan,  has 
been  shown  by  Reinhard  in  opposition  to  Bahrdt,  in  a  very 
clear  and  convincing  manner,  pp.  84 — 112.  The  hy- 
pothesis proposed  by  Kestner  in  his  Agape,^  may  be 
considered  as  a  good  piece  to  hang  up  by  the  side  of 
Bahrdt's ;  for  though  the  plan  of  spreading  Christianity 
over  the  world  by  means  of  a  secret  society,  is  not,  in  this 
case,  ascribed  to  Jesus,  yet  it  is  ascribed  to  apostolical  men 
of  the  first  century.  The  essential  parts  of  this  hypothe- 
sis, at  which  Wieland  had  already  hinted, f  are  here  giv- 
en in  the  author's  own  words,  S.  17 — 22. 

"  Clement,  a  Roman  patrician,  after  the  death  of  those 
zealous  apostles,  Peter    and  Paul  his    instructors,    de- 

*  Die  Agape  oder  der  geheime  Weltbund  der  Chrir^ten,  von  Kle- 
mens  in  Rom  unter  Domitians  Regierung  gestiftet,  dargestellt  von 
Dr.  August  Kestner,  ausserord.  Prof  d.  Th.  (died.  27th  Oct.  1821,  in 
the  27th  year  of  his  age,)  Jena,  1819.  This  hypothesis  is  not  only 
unanimously  rejected  by  the  reviewers  of  this  work,  Der  Gott.  Anz., 
1820,  St.  3;  Hall.  L.  Z.,  1820,  N.  1—3;  Hermes,  1819,  St.  4.  S.  285 
—299 ;  Jen.  L.  Z.,  1819,  Novemb.,  N.  201—203 ;  Leipz.  L.  Z.,  1821, 
Octb.,  N.  272,  273 ;  but  it  is  expressly  opposed  in  the  Programmata 
of  Eichstadt:  "  Lucianus  nura  scriptis  suis  adjuvare  religionem 
Christianam  voluerit,"  Jen.,  1820 ;  and  the  Exercitationes  Antoninia- 
nae,  I— VI.,  len.,  1821. 

+  In  the  Uebersetzung  des  Lucian,  III.  59 — 64.  101  f.,  and  in  the 
Geheime  Geschichte  des  Philosophen  Peregrinus  Proteus,  L.  II. 
1790.    Sammtl.  Werke,  B.  33  u.  34. 


APPENDIX,    C.  299 

vised  a    plan  for  effecting  a  revolution  of  the  state  of 
things  in  the   world,   which   should  procure   for  the  to 
him    sacred    cause    of   Christianity,    the    victory   over 
the  religions,  practical  principles,  moral  habits,  and  the 
institutions  of  old  times,    and   render  a  Christian  mode 
of  thinking  and  acting,  the  all-pervading  spirit  of  a  later 
age.     By  means  of  a  secret  society,  throughout  the  Ro- 
man empire,  the  strict  discipline  of  which  should  accus- 
tom irregular  and  unrestrained  people  to  order  and  the 
performance  of  duty,  gradually  moralize  the  legal,  and  at 
the  same  time,  prepare  the  morally  strong  by  carrying 
them  through  the  degrees  of  a  symbolical,  mystical  sys- 
tem of  instruction,  for  the  overthrow  of  the  old,  politico- 
religious  government  of  the  world,  and  station  every  one, 
susceptible  of  entering  into  the  revolutionary  plan,  at  a 
definite  post  of  the  organized  machinery  of  this  united 
body,  when  in  active  operation ; — by  means  of  such  a  secret 
association,  this  acute,  political  man,  animated  by  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus,  supposed  he  should  be  able  to  obtain  a 
decisive  triumph  for  the  Christian  cause,  and  one  which 
would  conduce  to  the  welfare  of  the  human  race.     The 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  gave  the  first  signal  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  this  Christian  confederacy  embracing  the 
whole   world,  and,  under  the  despotic  reign  of  Domi- 
tian,  when  all  nations  and  countries  were  sighing  after 
an  improvement  in  the  state  of  things,  it  was  easily  put 
into  operation.     By  a   multitude  of  writings  fabricated 
agreeably  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  object  of  the 
confederacy,  and  attributed  to  the  names  of  Christians 
every  where  honored  ;   by  the   introduction  of    a  new 
mode  of  interpreting  the  genuine  books  of  the  prophets 
and  apostles,  invented  for  the  purpose  of  favoring  the 
cause  of  the  confederacy,  as  well  as  by  wise,  faithful,  and 
powerful  aids  in  many  regions,  Clement  was   enabled,  in 
the  first  place,  to  unite  the  different  apostolical  sects  into 
one  body,  and  regulate  and  discipline  them  all  agreeably 
to  his  will  and  in  accordance  with  the  requisitions  of  the 
so  called  Apostolical  Constitution  of  his  confederacy.     At 
the  same  time,  the  extension  of  Jewish  and  heathen,  pro- 


300  APPENDIX,  C. 

phetical  writings,  either  interpolated  by  Christians  or 
newly  fabricated  for  the  purpose,  gained  many  Jews  and 
gentiles  over  to  the  interest  of  the  Christian  cause. 
Then,  some  of  the  Clementinian  confederates  by  their 
cunning,  purloined  the  records  and  private  books  of  the 
so  called  Secret  Society  of  Theologians  established  by  John 
the  Evangelist;  and  the  founder  of  the  confederacy  con- 
nected the  consecrating  ritual  of  John's  mysteries,  with 
Jewish  and  heathen  ceremonies  and  mystical  symbols  of 
a  masonical  character,  and  thus,  after  establishing  a 
Christian  priesthood,  ordained  a  mysterious  worship  of 
God,  which  was  introduced  by  its  missionaries  and  abet- 
tors, into  all  parts  of  the  then  civilized  world,  in  Pales- 
tine and  in  Spain,  on  the  Euphrates  and  on  the  Rhine, 
with  the  full  approbation  of  all  religious  parties  and  ranks. 
Upon  the  martyrdom  of  Clement,  his  undertaking,  difficult 
as  it  was,  had  been  so  far  realized,  that  the  brotherhood 
which  he  had  founded  had  been  extended  into  all  regions 
of  the  world,  and,  according  to  a  probable  estimate, 
numbered  over  a  million  of  firm  adherents. 

Domitian  discovered  the  existence  of  this  secret  con- 
federacy without  being  able  to  touch  it.  The  hoary 
Nerva  was  raised  to  the  throne  by  its  members,  and  he 
suffered  them  to  act  for  a  long  time  in  quiet. 

Trajan  persecuted  them  according  to  military  regula- 
tions as  state  criminals,  and  his  political  measures  suc- 
ceeded in  enabling  him  to  seize  the  authors  and  heads 
of  this  confederacy  and  punish  many  thousands  of  its 
members  with  exile  and  death. 

The  confederacy  of  brethren,  being  shaken  by  this 
persecution,  contrived,  under  a  mask  of  societies  of  oper- 
ative mechanics,  in  which  they  concealed  themselvesj  to 
obtain  the  favor  of  Hadrian,  who  was  a  lover  of  the  me- 
jchanical  arts. 

Under  Antoninus  Pius,  who  caused  the  Christian  con- 
federacy to  be  guarded  with  great  strictness  as  far  as 
politics  were  concerned,  but  who  looked  upon  its  mem- 
bers as  at  heart  worshippers  of  God,  they  endeavored  to 
justify  themselves  in  the  eyes   of  the  government,    by 


APPENDIX,    C.  301 

numerous  apologies  written  in  their  own  defence  and  sent 
to  it,  from  the  different  regions  where  they  resided  ;  while 
many  powerful  men  made  their  appearance  in  the  differ-, 
ent  Christian  sects,  who,  sustained  by  Lucian,  carried  on 
a  spiritual  contest  with  rich  success  against  the  system 
of  conceptions  and  the  mode  of  life  peculiar  to  the  Jew- 
ish, heathen,  and  Christiano-Gnostic  contemporaries. 

Marcus  Aurelius  caused  himself  to  be  initiated  into 
the  mysteries  of  Christians,  carried  on  a  correspond- 
ence, and  held  intercourse  with  many  of  them,  and  while 
at  the  head  of  government  conducted  as  their  protector  ; 
and,  having  with  great  consideration  completed  his  pire- 
parations  for  the  purpose,  he  would,  for  moral-religious 
reasons,  have  made  Christianity  the  state  religion  of  the 
Roman  empire,  if  he  had  not  been  prevented  from  so 
doing  by  the  prevalence  of  the  too  powerful  anti-chris- 
tian  spirit  of  the  age,  and  been  overtaken  in  the  midst  of 
warlike  enterprises  by  a  sudden  death. 

Even  down  to  the  reign  of  Antoninus,  the  followers  of 
Clement  by  means  of  their  authority,  continued  to  hold 
this  immense  confederacy  attached  both  internally  and 
externally  to  its  presidential  chair  at  Rome,  though  it  cost 
much  trouble  to  do  so,  and  they  could  secure  their  au- 
thority only  by  very  sly  and  artful  means.  When  Pius, 
however,  with  an  almost  papal  arrogance,  began  to  issue 
decrees  for  the  whole  confederacy  of  Christians,  the  re- 
sult was  its  severance  for  the  first  time, — a  severance 
which  could  be  healed  again  only  by  the  aged  Polycarp, 
who  was  one  of  the  first  spreaders  of  the  £gape,  and  by 
the  calmness  and  forbearance  of  Anicetus  the  succeeding 
Roman  President.  With  greater  danger  was  the  con- 
federacy threatened  on  the  part  of  the  Montanistic  rebell- 
ion, which  continued  to  foment  within  the  pale  of  the 
Agape,  until  the  rebels  were  rejected  from  all  connexion 
with  those  who  had  been  enabled,  not  more  by  their 
revolutionary  power  than  their  spiritual  superiority,  to  ob- 
tain a  victory  for  the  religion  of  Jesus,  over  the  almost 
expiring  spirit  of  ancient  times." 
26 


i 


302  APPENDIX,    C. 


This  hypothesis  was  brought  forward  in  part,  for  the 
purpose  of  opposing  the  assertions  of  Reinhard,  p.  105, 
and  with  reference  to  it,  the  author  has  expressed  great  con- 
fidence. "We  rejoice,"  says  he,  (Agape,  S.  165  f.  Anm.) 
"  to  receive  the  wished  for  result  of  Reinhard's  investi- 
gation, that  Jesus  never  intended  to  put  the  hidden 
springs  of  a  secret  society  in  motion  for  the  execution  of 
his  plan,  (p.  112.)  A  thorough  investigator,  however, 
will  doubtless  find  the  views  which  I  have  now  presented 
respecting  the  formation  of  a  secret  society  by  a  man 
who  was  not  even  one  of  Christ's  disciples,  not  to  be 
altogether  destitute  of  foundation,  provided  the  inquiry 
come  within  the  sphere  to  which  his  labors  have  been 
confined  and  he  enter  upon  it  with  judgement  and  ex- 
perience." It  seems  to  be  proper,  therefore,  in  this  place, 
to  give  a  short  and  connected  representation  of  the 
main  points  to  be  attended  to,  in  a  critical  examination 
of  this  hypothesis,  and  it  will  be  such  an  one,  I  hope,  as 
would  accord  with  the  views  of  Reinhard,  were  he  living. 

The  first  question  that  forces  itself  upon  every  one 
who  enters  upon  this  examination,  is :  From  what  sources 
was  this  hypothesis  drawn  ?  And  here  it  must  appear 
strange  to  every  one,  that  the  author  has  drawn  it  for  the 
most  part,  from  writings  admitted  to  be  spurious,  or  at 
least,  very  greatly  interpolated,  by  the  unanimous  decis- 
ion of  Catholic  theologians  as  well  as  Protestant.  He 
makes  use  of  the  Recognitions  of  Clement  (S.  27,  28) 
as  a  sure  source  of  the  history  of  this  man,  though  they 
are  nothing  more  than  a  Christian  romance,  which  was 
composed  according  to  Mosheim,  (De  turbata  per  recen- 
tiores  Platonicos  Ecclesia,  §  34,  in  the  Dissertatt.  ad 
Hist.  EccL,  I.  174 — 192,)  in  the  third  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  by  a  Platonizing  Jew  of  Alexandria ;  or, 
according  to  Neander,  (Gnostische  Systeme,  S.  361  ff., 
and  K.  G.  I.  2.  620,)  by  an  Ebionite,  at  the  close  of 
the  second.*     He  takes  it  for  granted,  also,  (S.  38.  55. 

*  Hence  Tzschirner  also,  Fall  des  Heidenthums,  I.  382,  has  cen- 
sured this  abuse. 


APPENDIX,  C.  303 


219,)  that  the  first  letters  of  Isidore's  Decretals,  which  have 
been  ascribed  to  this  same  Clement,  are,  in  a  great  measure, 
genuine ;  whereas,  it  is  necessary  to  read  only  the  first 
of  the  Decretal  letters  addressed  to  the  apostle  James, 
even  as  translated  by  Rufinus,  and  compare  it  with  the 
first  and  genuine  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians,  in 
order  to  find  irrefragable  proof  that  this  father  was  not  its 
author,  as  is  now  acknowledged  by  all  able  critics,  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant.*  He  uses  the  fragment  of  a 
commentary  upon  the  Revelation  of  John  taken  from 
Fabricius,  Codex  Apocr.  N.  T.,  III.  721,  and  said  to  have 
been  written  by  Caecilius  a  pupil  of  James,  S.  94,  without 
saying  a  single  word  respecting  what  Fabricius  adds,  p. 
722 — 724,  that  this  fragment  which  was  found  in  Spain 
belongs  to  the  16th  century.  He  considers  the  works 
ascribed  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  as  the  genuine  pro- 
ductions of  this  pupil  of  the  apostle  Paul,  (S.  231.  291,) 
without  paying  any  attention  to  the  irrefutable  arguments 
of  those  who  assign  it  to  the  fourth  century  or  one  still 
later.f  These  facts  are  sufficient  of  themselves  to  excite 
a  suspicion  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  author's  supposi- 
tion. 

Let  us  ask,  however,  what  he  has  discovered  favorable 
to  it  in  the  memorials  of  church  history,  whether  gen- 
uine or  spurious  ?  And  here  it  is  to  be  wished  that  the 
author  had  followed  the  excellent  rule  laid  down  by  Pe- 


*  The  Epist.  I.  dementis  ad  Jacoburn,  is  to  be  found  in  Cotelerii 
PP.  Apost.,  I.  611 — 614,  ed.  Cler.  prim.,  and  also  together  with  the 
other  epistles  in  the  Collections  of  Councils,  e.  g.  in  Harduin,  I.  39 — 
62;  also  printed  at  large  in  Dav.  Blondel's  Pseudo-Isidorus  et  Tur- 
rianus  vapulantes,  Genev.,  1628,  4.  S.  1 — 100,  whose  arguments 
L  Wilh.  lanus,  in  the  Disp.  de  Barbaria  medii  aevi,  p.  24,  pronounced 
invictae  demonstrationes,  which  Catholics  also  admit.  Comp.  Ittig. 
Do  PP.  Apost.,  p.  107seqq.;  Schrdckh,K.  G.  XXII.  14  ff.  ;  Planck, 
Gesch.  der  christl.  kirchl.  Gesellschafls-Verfassung,  II.  806—828. 

•  t  In  addition  to  Schrockh,  K.  G.XVII.  367—370,  comp.  Nean- 
der,  K.  G.  II.  2.  747 ff.,  especially  the  Acta  Sanctor.  Mens.  Octob. 
Tom.  IV.  802 — 856,  where  the  writings  of  Dionysius  are  treated  of 
in  a  minute  and  thorough  manner.  Doderlein  gives  an  abstract  in 
the  Theol.  Bibliothek,  II.  181-187. 


304  APPENDIX,    C. 

ter  in  the  Recognitions  of  Clement,^  and  kept  it  before 
him  as  valid.  In  every  instance,  he  is  obliged  to  foist  in 
his  preconceived  notion  respecting  an  Agape-confederacy. 
In  no  case,  is  a  remote  hint  expressed  in  relation  to  it. 
This  assertion  of  mine  is  the  result  of  an  examination 
of  the  most  important  testimonies  to  which  he  has  resort- 
ed. As  the  first  of  these,  and  which  the  author  himself, 
S.  10  fF.,  calls,  "  the  first  key  to  the  secret  mine  of  his- 
torical notices  respecting  the  Christian  confederacy,"  he 
adduces  the  commencement  of  Origen's  work  against 
C^lsus.  In  this  passage,  he  represents  the  latter  as  re- 
proaching Christians  with  having  a  secret  and  unlawful 
confederacy,  and  Origenf  as  admitting  that  Celsus  refers 
in  what  he  says  to  the  so  called  Agape  of  Christians,  or 
to  obhgations  of  a  stronger  character  ^than  ordinary,  con- 
federate oaths,  into  which  they  had  mutually  entered,  on 
account  of  the  common  danger  to  which  they  were  ex- 
posed, and  says  :  "  From  the  whole  context  of  the  passage 
it  is  perfectly  evident  that  ayanfj  in  this  place,  does  not 

*  Recognitiones,  1.  X.  c.  42,  Coteler.  I.  591.  "  Petrus  ait :  Mul- 
tas,  ut  video,  ingeniosi  homines,  ex  his,  quae  legunt,  verisimilitudi- 
nes  capiunt ;  et  ideo  diligenter  observandurn  est,  ut  Lex  Dei  cum 
legitur,  non  secundum  proprii  ingenii  intelligentiam  legatur.  Sunt 
enim  multa  verba  in  Scripturis  divinis,  quae  possunt  trahi  ad  eum 
sensura,  quem  sibi  unusquisque  sponte  praesumsit :  quod  fieri  non 
oportet.  Non  enim  sensum,  quem  extrinsecus  attuleris,  alienura  et 
extraneum  debes  quaerere,  quem  ex  Scripturarum  auctoritate  con- 
firmes  ;  sed  ex  ipsis  Scripturis  sensum  capere  veritatis  :  et  ideo 
oportet  ab  eo  intelligentiam  discere  Scripturarum,  qui  eam  a  majori- 
bus,  secundum  veritatem  sibi  traditam  servat :  ut  et  ipse  possit  ea 
quae  recte  suscepit,  competentur  adserere."  This  passage  is  also  to 
be  met  with  in  the  fifth  epistle  of  Clement,  in  Harduin,  p.  62,  and  in 
Blondel,  p.  98  ;  and  when  Kestner,  S.  157,  Not.  226,  says  ofBahrdt, 
"  that  none  but  a  frivolous  investigator  possessed  of  acute  wit  un- 
seasonably applied,  can,  sustained  by  passages  drawn  from  the  New 
Testament,  represent  Jesus  as  having  been  the  head  of  a  secret  or- 
der,"— Who  will  not  throw  the  remark  back  again  upon  himself? 

t  Orig.  contra  Cels.,  I.  1.  0pp.  I.  319.  Uqanov  tw  Ks?Mio  xEipa- 
?.aiov  eon  pov?.oi.uvco  6ia^a).i.iv  Xqiariaviajiov,  cog  ovv&tjxag  xqv^dtiv 
TtQog  aXkrjJ.ovg  tcoiov^i^vojv  XQianavMv  naQa  ra  rsvouioueva,  6ri  xwv  ovv- 
■9r]xo}V  al  /lISv  nOi  (pavsqai,  ooai  y.ara  vouovg  yiyvovrai  •  al  Ss  aipavsig, 
ooat  Tcaqa  ra  vsvouiausva  gvvte?.ovvtui.  Kai  ^ovksrai  dia^akdv  ryjv 
xa/iovi.i£vr]v  ^yany]v  Xoioriavoiv,  jvQog  a?J.rjXovg,  aico  rov  y.oivov  y.itdv- 
vov  vipiora^ievtjv,  y.ai  dwaueriji'  VTnqoqy.ia' 


APPENDIX,   C.  305 

mean  Christian  love,  as  this  could  not  be  designated  as  50 
called,  but  the  Love-confederacy J^  The  unprejudiced 
reader,  however,  will  readily  perceive,  #iat  he  has  not 
only  represented  the  whole  passage  in  a  wrong  light,  but 
also  given  "an  incorrect  meaning  to  single  words.  (I) 
Origen  does  not  in  any  respect  seem  to  admit  the  re- 
proach of  Celsus  to  be  well  founded.  "  The  prime  ob- 
ject with  Celsus,"  says  he,  "  is  to  calumniate  Christianity 
by  representing  Christians  as  secretly,  and  hence,  illegally 
confederated  together ;"  and  anticipating  that  the  reader 
would  inquire  for  what  purpose  this  groundless  reproach 
was  made,  he  adds  :  (2)  "  He  wishes  to  bring  suspicion 
upon  the  love  of  Christians  so  celebrated  as  binding  them 
together  in  the  hour  of  danger  with  more  firmness  than 
any  oath."  The  great  love  of  Christians  was  often  spoken 
of  by  the  heathen,  with  astonishment  and  aversion."^  The 
term  ayccm],  however,  may  be  understood  of  the  Love-feast 
as  it  is  used  of  this  institution  in  general,  even  in  the  singular 
number ;  being  so  used  by  Tertullian,  Apologet.  c.  39. 

(3)  When  Origen  speaks  of  this  ayanrj,  as  being  xaXov- 
(xivri,  he  evidently  means  that  it  was  something  tslhed  of, 
and,  consequently,  something  that  must  have  been  well 
known  ;  which  could  not  have  been  said  of  a  secret  order. 

(4)  As  he  speaks  of  this  love  being  stronger  than  an 
oath,  it  follows,  that  he  cannot  have  had  reference  to  any 
order  into  which  persons  were  initiated  by  means  of  a 
solemn  oath.  (5)  Immediately  after,  Origen  speaks  of 
a  covenant  into  which  Christians  had  absolutely  entered 


*  Tertullian,  Apologet.  c.  39.  After  having  described  the  char- 
ity-tax of  Christians,  he  adds  :  "  Sed  ejusinodi  vel  maxime  dilectionis 
operatio  notam  nobis  inurit  penes  quosdam.  Vide,  inquiunt,  ut  in- 
'  vicem  se  diligant;  (ipsi  enim  invicem  oderunt)  et  ut  pro  alterutro 
mori  sint  parati ;  (ipsi  enim  ad  occidendum  alterutrum  paratiores 
erunt.) — Minucius  Felix,  in  Octavio,  c.  31.  Sic  mutuo,  quod  doletis, 
aniore  diliginms,  quoniam  odisse  non  novimus  :  sic  nos,  quod  invi- 
detis,  fratres  vocamus,  et  unius  Dei  parentis  homines,  ut  consortes 
fidei,  ut  spei  cohaeredes." — lulianus  inFragm.  Orationis  Epistolae- 
ve  in  fin.  Opp,  ed.  Spanh.305.  Tov  avrov  y.ai  avroi  [Christiani]  tqo- 
7C0V  aQ^a/iisvoi  dia  r  rj  g  ^ayousrTje  7ia(/  avroic  ayaTtJjg  xeci 
VTVoSo^^g  xaX  diaxovtag  ToaTisLwv  niorovg  svtjyayov  sig  rriv  Ci?£OT>;Ta. 

26* 


306  APPENDIX,    C. 

with  each  other  in  opposition  to  the  tyrants  of  the  world, 
to  Satan,  and  falsehood.  (6)  Finally,  it  is  evident  both 
from  the  accu^tion  of  Celsus,  and  Origen's  answer  to  it, 
that  the  whole  discourse  had  reference  to  Christians  at 
large,  as  being  firmly  united  together  by  love,  and  not 
to  a  secret  and  select  number  of  Christians,  constituting 
an  order  among  themselves.  Thus  little  can  there  be 
gathered  from  the  principal  passage  to  which  Kestner  ap- 
peals in  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  secret  confederacy. 
Much  less  can  there  be  gathered  from  the  others.  Without 
any  authority  and  contrary  to  the  import  of  the  language 
and  the  connexion  of  the  discourse,  he  makes  the  word 
ayantj,  mean  a  secret  confederacy.  Thus,  S.  13,  the 
passage,  (Martyr.  Clem.  Cotel.  PP.  Ap.  I.  808,  extra, 
marginal  reading,)  in  which,  after  having  described  Clem- 
ent's zeal  to  effect  the  conversion  of  all,  the  writer  says  of 
him  ;  vno  navxoiv  te  ccyancofievogj  nccviccg  t?^  etg  Xqigtov 
ayanri  avvdeiv  enoieno  anovdrjv '  rjyccnovv  ^lav  avrov  ol 
'^Ellrivsg  etc.,  is  rendered  :  "  He  exerted  himself  to 
imite  all  together  in  the  Ayanri  f  as  if  the  clause,  eiQ 
^(^^i#^i  (which  in  this  case  is  prudently  omitted,  but,  on 
p.  36,  is  translated,  "  the  Agape-confederacy  resting  upon 
Christ,")  were  not  the  object  of  the  love,  and  as  if  the 
preceding  ayccncof^svog,  and  the  succeeding  rjyccnovv,  did 
not  require  the  usual  signification  of  ayanrj.  In  the  su- 
perscription of  the  Epistle  of  Ignatius  to  the  Romans, 
(Col.  II.  26,)  among  various  other  titles  given  the  Rom- 
ish church,  is  that  of  nQOKcc&rjf^svt]  rrjg  ^yani^g,  which  is 
rendered,  "  The  superintendent  of  the  Agape ;"  and  yet 
from  the  other  predicates,  it  is  evident,  that  this  phrase 
designates  nothing  more  than  the  precedency  in  love,  and 
is  intended  merely  to  imply  that  this  church  excelled 
others  in  love,  as  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  epistle,  it 
is  said;  q)Opovfiat,T?]v  ayanr]v  vfioiv,  firj  avtrj  fis  cidiXtjGr], 
(I  fear  your  love  will  hold  me  back  from  martyrdom.) 
The  beginning  of  Ignatius'  Episde  to  the  Magnesians, 
(Cotel.  II.  55,)  ypovg  vf.i(av  to  noXvevtaxtov  Tt^g  icccrcc 
-d-eov  ayanfjg,  is  said  to  mean  :  "  When  I  heard  that  the 
Agape  was  well  regulated  among  you ;"  whereas  the  neg- 


APPENDIX,    C.  307 

lected  words,  xaxa  d^eov,  show  that  he  speaks  of  love 
to  God,  The  same  remark  may  be  made  respecting, 
Tta^cacalo)  Vfiag,  ovvi  eyw,  aU'  ri  ayanrj,  I.  X.,  (Ep.  ad 
Trail,  c.  6. ;  Cotel.  p.  65,)  which  is  evidently  an  imitation 
of  Phil.  2;  1  ;  and  also,  f^rjnoie  d^XtpiVTeg  ilaa&evrians 
fv  T7]  ayanr} '  alia  navreg  em  to  avto  yvvta^f,  (Ep.  ad 
Philad.  c.  6 ;  p.  83,)  which  is  an  imitation  of  Phil. 
2:^  2.  But  to  adduce  a  few  other  instances  of  ca- 
pricious interpretation :  On  p.  51  f.,  Barnabas,  in  a 
single  isolated  fragment,"*^  which  runs  thus  :  "  In  wick- 
ed combats  the  conqueror  is  the  most  unfortunate,  for 
he  goes  away  with  the  most  sins  upon  his  head,"  is 
said  to  have  expressed  his  first  thoughts  respecting  a 
dangerous  confederacy  ! !  — On  p.  54,  after  having  men- 
tioned the  2d  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians,  the 
genuineness  of  which  was  called  in  question  at  a  very  early 
period,  he  says  :  "  All  at  once  the  Epistle  closes  like  a 
fragment.  \i\  thought,  however,  we  read  farther,  and 
feel  persuaded  that  Clement,  after  having 'given  this  cir- 
cumstantial preface  and  introduction,  in  which  allusion  is 
often  [?  not  at  all]  made  to  the  Agape,  went  on  to  lay  down 
his  plan  for  connecting  a  select  number  of  Christians  to- 
gether in  the  Agape-confederacy."  And  thus  one  can 
read  every  thing,  if  he  reads  according  to  his  own 
thoughts. — He  proceeds  in  the  same  manner  in  making 
use  of  the  work  entitled,  Pastor  Hermae,  or  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas ;  which,  S.  78,  Anm.,  is  called  "a  masonic 
book,"  because  in  it  the  Agape-confederacy  is  represent- 
ed, as  he  thinks,  under  the  figure  of  a  tower.  This  book, 
however,  contains  not  the  least  intimation  respecting  a  se- 
cret confederacy.  It  is  altogether  of  a  moral,  ascetical  ten- 
dency, and  the  comparison  or  allegory  of  a  tower  refer- 
red to,  is  nothing  more  than  a  farther  painting  out  of  1 
Pet.  2:  5.f      Even  the  books  of  the  New  Testament, 

*  Grabe,  Spicileg.  SS.  PP.  I.  308.  Baqva^aq  6  Anooru).og  etpyj-  ev 
uiLii).?.aig  7tovri(jaig  a^?.torrsQog  6  rixtjaag,  diori  tnsQ/srai  n?~sov  ijrtav 
Ttjg  uuaQTiag.  It  is  taken  from  a  codex  which  contains  an  alphabet- 
ical collection  of  sentences  taken  from  sacred  and  profane  writers. 

t  The  word  ayaTrr]  is  certainly  to  be  met  with  in  the  Shepherd  of 
Hermas,  which  the  reviewer  in  the  Hermes,  denied ;  lib.  I.  c.  8.  Cotel. 


308  APPENDIX,    C. 


however,  are  resorted  to  by  the  author,  and  made  to  ex- 
hibit traces  of  the  pretended  confederacy.  The  2d  Epis- 
tle of  Peter,  the  Epistle  of  Jude,  (vid.  S.  85 — 87.  and 
221— -226.  1 17,)  as  also  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  (S. 
114 — 116.  192 — 200,)  are  said  to  be  the  productions  of 
this  confederacy,  written  either  by  Clement,  or  under  his 
direction.  The  first  of  these  epistles  he  supposes,  (S. 
86,)  to  have  been  sent  to  the  hesitating  members  of  the 
confederacy  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  them.  The 
seven  virtues  named,  2  Pet.  1:  5—7,  and  also  Hermas, 
Past.  I.  Vis.  in.  c.  8,  he  represents  as  the  seven  genii,  to 
which,  those  who  enter  the  confederacy  were  obliged  to 
swear  allegiance ;  so  that  imxoQ'nyeiv,  (v.  5,)  probably 
refers  to  the  choral  dances  which  the  genii  of  these  vir- 
tues conducted  in  the  Clementinian  mysteries  (!).  In 
verses  6,  7,  he  finds  that  the  »^gape  not  without  allusion 
to  the  secret  orders  of  John  which  rose  up  agai-nst  it,  is 
placed  far  above  the  Gnosis,  [Has  Paul  a  similar  allu- 
sion, 1  Cor.  8:  1  ?]  This,  however,  is  far  surpassed  by 
what  is  said  (S.  114)  to  be  contained  in  Heb.  6:  10, 
where  the  text  is  changed  without  any  authority  whatev- 
er, and  eveds'iacyds  substituted  for  ^vsdei'^aG&i  ;  "  a  word" 
adds  he,  "  which  the  transcribers  could  not  understand 
without  an  acquaintance  with  the  confederacy ;"  [as  if  the 
connexion  of  the  terms,  egyov,  ^onov,  and  ^laaoprjaavng 
did  not  refer  to  the  active  love  of  the  Hebrews.]  In 
chap.  5:  12,  the  writer  of  the  epistle  is  said  to  regret, 
that  though  the  time  was  near  in  which  the  brethren  of 
the  confederacy  ought  to  be  advanced  to  the  Master''s 
degree  of  the  Agape,  yet  they  were  still  employed  in  ac- 
quiring the  first  principles  of  the  very  lowest  degree  of 
the  confederacy  !  According  to  p.  115,  chapters  vi.  and 
VII.  speak  of  Christian  priests  whose  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  constitution  of  the  confederacy,  ^oyog  ogyiMfAoaiag^ 
c.  VII.    28,  had  higher    significancy    than   the    conse- 


I.  81.  Caritas,  for  which  in  the  Greek  text  preserved  by  Clement  of 
Alexand.  Strom.  II.  384  s.,  Sylb.,  we  find  aya7r/;,.means  love,  and  is 
named  with  other  virtues  as  the  fruit  of  faith. 


APPENDIX,    C.  309 

crating  ritual  by  which  the  old  Hebrew  priests  were 
inducted  into  office  ;  [and  yet  the  discourse  speaks 
of  only  one  high  priest,]  and  according  to  p;  116,  in 
chap.  12:4 — 12,  the  readers  were  admonished  not  to 
take  oiFence  at  the  strict  discipline  of  the  confederacy, 
and  according  to  p.  196  f.  and  273,  chap.  12:  18—24 
give  a  description  of  the  awful  rites  of  initiation  into  the 
new  n)ysteries,  the  symbolical  scenery  of  which  he  inter- 
prets of  the  new  church  (the  Christian  confederacy,) 
and  the  New  Jerusalem,  (the  goal  of  the  confederacy.) 
The  person  received  is  said  to  have  been  led  to  a  smoking 
and  ignivomous  mountain,  been  exposed  to  an  unexpected 
storm  and  the  sound  of  trumpets,  and  to  have  had  his 
attention  directed  to  the  calling  and  singing  of  thundering 
voices  approaching  at  a  great  distance  &c ;  [here  the  author 
must  have  entirely  overlooked  the  negation  of  the  IBth 
verse  in  order  to  be  able  to  deduce  such  theatrical  and 
foolish  play  from  the  passage !]  These  examples  will 
suffice  to  show  how  the  words  of  the  ancient  writers  have 
been  abused  in  this  work  ! 

But  we  ask  farther ;  where  is  there  any  testimony  that 
Clement  was  the  founder  of  this  secret  confederacy  ? 
There  is  a  not  a  single  intimation  to  this  effect  which  can 
be  relied  on.  It  is  uncertain  even,  whether  this  bishop 
of  Rome  was  a  Roman,  and  as  such,  possessed  of  superior 
education,  political  acuteness,  and  versatility.  According 
to  Tillemont,"^  who  has  carefully  collected  together  every 
thing  relative  to  Clement,  it  is  rather  probable  (from  I.  Ep. 
Clem,  ad  Cor.  c.  4.  Cotel.  I.  148,  o  nccirjg  i^ficov  /axw/?,) 
that  he  was  a  Jew.f     Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  the 

*  Memoires  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  eccles.  des  six  premiers  sie- 
cles,  Tom.  II.  p.  162  seqq.,  original  ed.  publ.  at  Paris. 

t  Hess,  Gesch.  u.  Schriften  der  Apostel,  III.  542.  (or  541,  4te  A.) 
"  In  general,  this  epistle  of  Clement  has  too  much  Jewish  splendor 
about  it  to  have  been  written  by  a  native  and  well  educated  Roman, 
as  Clement  by  many  has  been  considered,  though  it  is  not  composed 
altogether  in  the  style  and  manner  of  the  Apostles.  It  is  not  un- 
worthy however  in  this  respect,  of  an  overseer  of  the  church  for 
which  a  Peter  and  Paul  had  labored,  of  which  also  honorable  men- 
tion is  made. 


310  APPENDIX,  C. 

only  piece  of  his  to  which  we  can  appeal  with  confidence 
m.  reference  to  him,  is  his  1  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and 
the  allusions  of  this  epistle  to  the  Agape  according  to  Kest- 
ner  himself,  S.  14f.  are  somewhat  obscure.  Many  passages, 
however,  are  unhesitatingly  referred  to  the  Christian  con- 
federacy. And  what?  we  ask.  The  exhortations,  c. 
21,  32,  and  especially  c.  49,  (Cotel.  I.  175,)  in  which 
Clement,  making  an  appropriate  use  of  the  aposde's  rep- 
resentation of  love  or  charity,  1  Cor.  xiii.,  exhorts  the 
Corinthian  Christians  who  were  then  divided  with  bick- 
erings and  party-spirit,  to  the  duty  of  charity.  No  one 
that  reads  this  epistle  can  discover  a  single  hint  in  any 
passage  respecting  an  order.  Every  thing  that  is  said 
of  the  ayantj,  is  said,  as  is  evident  from  the  connexion, 
solely  of  the  virtue  of  love,  and  in  many  cases  this  word 
if  taken  in  the  signification  of  a  secret  confederacy  would 
make  nonsense.  The  traces  of  a  hierarchical  spirit  and 
state  of  things  are  likewise  very  weak.  Chap.  40,  extr. 
p.  169,  is  nothing  more  than  a  comparison  with  the  reg- 
ulations of  the  Old  Testament  to  show  the  order  which 
should  exist  in  divine  worship  in  the  Christian  church. 
In  chap.  37,  subordination,  and  reverence  towards  over- 
seers and  elders  is  recommended,  and  that  very  appro- 
priately ;  as,  according  to  c.  47,  p.  174,  a  spirit  of  insurrec- 
tion against  the  elders  had  broken  out  among  the  Corinthi- 
ans, [oraaictCeiv  nQog  tovg  ngia^vTaQovg.")  The  whole 
episde  is  written  with  such  plainness  and  sobriety,  and  in 
so  mild  and  modest  a  spirit,  that  it  is  difficult  for  any  one 
to  impute  to  its  author  the  deep  and  cunningly  concerted 
plan  of  a  secret  order.  There  is  as  litde  to  be  gathered 
from  the  Recognitions,  provided  it  should  be  considered 
as  a  sure  source  of  the  history  of  Clement,  respecting 
his  having  established  an  order. 

And  farther ;  how  could  an  order,  which,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  century  (S.  164)  extended  from  Je- 
rusalem and  Alexandria  to  Lyons,  from  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  to  the  regions  of  Pontus,  and  had  members 
from  all  ranks  and  classes  of  people,  whether  Jews,  hea- 
then, or  Christians,  (S.  163)  in  number  over  a  million,  have 


APPENDIX,    C.  311 


continued  to  keep  its  existence  so  secret  that  none  of  its 
transactions  should  ever  have  been  betrayed  ? — so  secret, 
that  it  could  escape  the  searching  eyes  of  the  Roman  police  ? 
How  is  it  possible  to  conceive  that  Trajan,  if  he  had  had  any 
intimations  of  the  existence  of  this  confederacy,  and  had 
discovered  traitors  among  Christians  sworn  to  oppose  the 
emperor  and  the  empire,  could  have  given  orders,  that 
they  should  not  be  looked  up  ?  (Plin.  Ep.  X.  98.  Con- 
quirendi  non  sunt :  si  deferantur  et  arguantur,  puniendi 
sunt ;)  that  they  should  be  punished  only  for  their  obsti- 
nacy and  headstrong  superstition,  and  because  they  would 
not  render  the  usual  honor  to  the  genius  of  the  pmperor ; 
but  in  case  they  renounced  their  faith,  should  be  dismiss- 
ed ?^  Why  in  general  were  they  nev^er  accused  of  being 
engaged  in  such  a  dangerous,  political  confederacy,  and 
hence,  rejected  by  their  apologists  ?  For  the  expressions, 
factio,  coitio,  conspiration  which  were  applied  to  Chris- 
tians, had  no  reference  to  a  secret  order  in  Christianity, 
but  were  applied  to  all  Christians  in  general,  inasmuch 
as  they  were  intimately  united  together,  and  kept  them- 
selves separate  from  heathenism  ;  and  the  author  is  al- 
together incorrect,  when  (S.  16,  17,)  he  says,  "  Ter- 
tullian,  Apologet.,  c.  39,  admits,  that  a  portion  of  the 
Christian  sects  constituted  a  state  party,"  as  he  spoke  this 
of  the  great  body  of  Christians  as  is  evident  from  the 
whole  chapter,  but  especially  from  the  conclusion : 
"  In  cuius  perniciem  allquando  convenimus?  Hoc  sumus 
congregati,  quod  et  dispersi :  hoc  universi,  quod  et  sin- 
guli ;  neminem  laedentes,  neminem  contristantes.  Cum 
probi,  cum  boni  coeunt,  cum  pii,  cum  casti  congregantur, 
non  est  factio  dicenda,  sed  curia." 

I'he  phenomena  in  the  Christian  church  which  (S. 
3  ff.)  are  said  not  to  have  been  intelligible  until  the  exis- 
tence of  the  secret  confederacy  was  discovered,  are  in 

*  Tertullian,  ad  Scapul.  (ab  init.^  ed.  Rigalt,  p.  85s.  "Circa 
majestatem  imperatoris  infamaoiur :  tamen  nunquam  Albiniani,  nee 
Nigriani,  vel  Cassiani  inveniri  potuerunt  Christiani. — Christianus 
nuUius  est  hostis,  nedum  imperatoris  :  quern  sciens  a  Deo  suo  con- 
stitui,  necesse  est  ut  et  ipsum  diligat,  et  revereatur,  et  honoret  et 
salvum  velit. 


312  APPENDIX,  C. 

part,  dated  too  early,  and,  in  part,  can  be  perfectly  ex- 
plained without  this  hypothesis.  The  hierarchical  form 
of  the  church  and  the  regulation  respecting  the  ranks  of 
the  spiritual  class  began  to  be  introduced  in  the  second 
century,  and  were  the  gradual  and  spontaneous  result  of 
the  increase  of  Christian  society,  and  the  forcible  intro- 
duction by  the  priesthood,  of  Jewish  and  heathen  notions 
which  derived  their  sustenance  from  the  natural  ambition 
of  mankind.  The  same  causes  also  in  conjunction  with 
the  unity  of  Christianity  itself  and  the  living  sensibility 
with  which  believers,  strangers,-  as  they  were,  and  op- 
pressed, in  the  world,  were  animated  as  a  community, 
necessarily  gave  rise  to  a  closer  and  closer  external  con- 
nexion, though  the  churches  were  by  no  means  divested 
of  all  freedom  nor  delivered  from  all  difference  of  belief 
at  the  close  of  the  second  century.  The  increasing  strict- 
ness of  church  discipline,  was  the  result  of  the  moral  fer- 
vor with  which  the  community,  in  proportion  to  its  dan- 
ger and  the  attention  fixed  upon  it,  was  obliged  to  watch 
over  its  purity.  Some  particular  regulations  of  the  Christian 
church  may  also  have  been  derived  from  the  synagogue. 
To  these  historical  reasons,  however,  there  are  other, 
reasons  which  may  justly  be  added,  sufficient  in  them- 
selves, to  secure  the  heart  in  a  great  measure,  against  the 
reception  of  this  hypothesis.  How  is  it  possible  to  re- 
concile the^  idea  that  the  pupils  of  the  apostles  consider- 
ed it  necessary  and  lawful  for  them  to  employ  such  mis- 
erable and  human  means  as  a  secret  order  must  have 
been,  which  made  it  one  of  its  maxims  to  murder  tyrants, 
to  procure  the  victory  for  Christianity,  of  whose  divinity 
they  were  convinced,  (S.  101  f.  122  ;)^ — how  is  it  possi- 

*  The  assertion  of  Origen  contra  Cels.  I.  1.  p.  320,  may  strike 
one  as  suspicious:  MOirso  yao,  si  vthq  xov  rvqawov  7iQo/.a(iotra  ra  rtig 
Tio/.Btag  avi?.siv,  ovv-9-rjxag  rivtc  xQv(iSriv  sjioiovrro,  y.a7.<x)g  av  stcoiovv  ' 
QVT(o  Stj  y.ai  Xoiartaroi,  rvQavrovrtog  rov  nw/:  avroig  xa?.6vusrf>v  dia^o- 
Xov  y.ai  Tof  -il'svdovg^  avr&ijxag  Ttoiovvrai,  naQara  rfvouiauavcc  rco  dia- 
(ioXo)'  But  the  suspicion  vanishes  when  we  consider  (1)  that  he'  here 
speaks  according  to  the  notions  of  the  Greeks,  and  refers  every 
thing  to  past  times  :  ''  If  those  were  formerly  esteemed  as  noble  men 
who  had  put  a  t^'rant  out  of  the  way  because  he  subjugated  the  city, 


APPENDIX,    C.  313 

ble,  I  say,  to  reconcile  such  an  idea  with  the  moral  puri- 
ty and  Christian  piety,  for  which,  taken  as  a  body,  they 
were  noted  ?  Could  Clement  ever  have  learnt  from  a 
Peter  and  a  Paul  thus  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ  ? 
Could  he  have  so  far  lost  all  sense  of  shame,  as  to  es- 
tablish a  regular  counting-house  for  the  purpose  of  man- 
ufacturing supposititious  works  in  the  gross  and  imputing 
them  to  celebrated  men  in  order  to  advance  the  ob- 
jects of  his  confederacy  ?  Would  he  presume  to  draw 
such  venerable  men  as  a  Timothy,  an  Ignatius,  a  Poly- 
carp,  yes,  and  even  a  James  the  apostle,  into  his  secret 
plans  and  make  them  dependent  upon  him  as  the  chief  of 
the  confederacy  ?  And  how  weak,  blinded,  and  forget- 
ful of  their  own  dignity  would  they  have  shown  them- 
selves by  entering  into  his  plan  and  consenting  to  become 
his  instruments?  Again,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  possible 
to  conceive  that  the  apostle  John  (S.  81)  could  have  pro- 
jected the  plan  of  a  Secret  Society  of  Tiieologians,  as  it  is 
called,  for  preserving  certain  mysterious  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, ypMOfig,  from  the  eyes  of  the  profane  world  and  im- 
parting them  only  to  the  initiated,*  and  Clement  have  op- 
posed to  this  secret.  Gnostic  confederacy,  his  more  active 
Agape-confederacy,  though  the  materials  of  the  latter  were 
drawn  in  a  great  measure  from  the  mysteries  of  the  former  ?f 

why  should  not  Christians  also  be  so  considered  ?"  and  (2)  the  ap- 
plication which  he  makes  of  it  to  a  purely  spiritual  conflict  against 
a  spiritual  enemy.  Who  can  thence  draw  any  inference  to  prove 
that  he  justified  assassination  ? 

*  This  is  drawn  from  Pionys.  Areop.  Hierarch.  Eccles.  c.  1.  §1. 
[ed.  Corder.  Tom.  I.  230. J  The  discourse  in  this  place,  however, 
does  not  speak  of  a  mystical  order,  but  of  the  caution  recommended 
agreeably  to  the  esoteric  mode  of  teaching,  not  to  impart  the  holy 
to  the  unholy.  Dionysius  says  nothing  about  John's  having  es- 
tablished a  mystical  order. 

t  Among  other  things  it  is  said  that  the  Apocalypse  kept  concealed 
by  John's  society,  was  purloined  by  Papias  and  brought  to  Clement, 
S.  213 — 217;  and  that  this  transaction  was  allegorically  represented 
in  the  well  known  account  of  the  youth  whom  John  intrusted  to  the 
protection  of  a  bishop,  and  who,  having  been  drawn  into  a  band 
of  robbers,  [the  confederacy  of  the  Agapists]  was  followed  after  by 
John  and  again  rescued.  Clemens  Alex.  Quis  Dives  Salvetur,  c. 
42  seqq.  p. '957— 960,  ed.  Pott.,  and  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  23,  comp. 

27 


314  APPENDIX,  C. 

and  that,  by  means  of  some  connexions  which  Clement 
had  at  the  imperial  court,  he  made  preparations  for  the 
banishment  of  John  to  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  (S.  85)  the 
accomplishment  of  which  caused  many  of  the  pupils  of 
the  latter  to  pass  over  to  the  Agape  ?  What  do  those 
mean  who  thus  degrade  the  first  propagators  of  Chris- 
tianity ? 

Serious  and  severe,  but  just  and  true,  are  the  remarks 
made  by  a  critic^*  respecting  this  work ;  and  such  is 
their  value,  that  they  well  deserve  to  be  read  in  this 
place.  "  He,  who  gives  a  historical  representation  for 
the  purpose  of  degrading  human  nature,  deals  in  false- 
hood and  is  a  traitor  of  his  race.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  him,  if  his  work  extends  only  to  individuals. 
That  historical  representation  of  a  nation  which  does  not 
aim  at  exhibiting  the  phenomena  of  the  human  mind  in 
its  exaltation,  beauty,  and  dignity,  is,  on  that  very  ac- 
count, to  be  rejected.  Human  nature  always  remains 
human  nature,  and  deserving  of  respect  even  in  the  midst 
of  its  degradation.  Now  he,  who,  in  addition  to  this,  suf- 
fers himself  to  be  Winded  by  unworthy  notions  with  re- 
gard to  that  which  shines  in  its  natural  dignity,  and  dis- 
figures the  moral  and  spiritual  beauty  of  a  phenomenon 
without  necessity,  grievously  transgresses  and  exhibits 
himself  in  all  his  own  unworthiness. 

We  come  now  to  the  case  before  us.  The  author  had 
to  investigate  the  history  of  the  first  formation  and  exten- 
sion of  the  Christian  church.  He,  who  undertakes  a 
historical  investigation  of  the  Christian  church,  must  be 
guided  by  a  belief  in  the  truth  and  high  power  of  the 
Christian  spirit,  and  never  relinquish  this  belief.  In  the 
midst  of  fhe  corruptions  and  aberrations  of  the  church, 

Lampe,  respecting  this  account,  Commentar.  in  Evangel.  loann. 
Tom.  I.  Prolegg.,  p.  71 — 78,  where  there  is  a  representation,  and 
a  good  critical  examination  of  the  various  views  which  have  been  ta- 
ken of  the  subject 

**  Hall.  Allg.  Litt.  Zeit,  I.  S.  19, 20, 1820.'  There  is  much  suggested 
in  opposition  to  Kestner,  in  Tzschirner,  Fall  des  Heidenthums,  as  for 
instance,  S.  214, 215,  corap.  351,  respecting  the  age  of  Athenagoras' 
apology;  S.  217,  218,  respecting  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus;  S.  300f. 


APPENDIX,  C.  315 

he  must   be  able  to  recognise   and    trace  the  constant 
workings  of  this  spirit,  nor  should  he   ever  look  upon 
them  as  impure  and  corrupt  until  he  has  gone  through 
with  the  most  conscientious  examination  ;  and  then,  in  con- 
nexion with  them,  he  should   always  be  able  to  discover 
the  traces  of  the  pure  and    incorruptible  spirit.     If  he 
fails  to  do  this,  he  denies  the  Christian  faith  ;  if  he  creates 
the  wicked  where  it  does  not  exist,  he  is  a  wilful  offender. 
From  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  it  is  evident,  that  the 
Christian  spirit  was  much  purer  and  more  powerful  in  the 
early  ages  than  it  was,   afterwards.     In  order  to  find  its 
corruptions  there,  we  must  of  course  be  guided  by  clear 
and  credible  testimonies.     The  author,   however,   finds 
them  without  the  aid  of  any   such  testimonies,   and   he 
basely  and  capriciously  creates  them  for  himself  when- 
ever he  wants  them.     We  shrink  back  with  horror  from 
a  survey  of  all  the  impurities  and  corruptions  which  he 
ascribes  to  the  pupils  of  the  apostles ;  in  the  first  place, 
that  distrust  in  the  almighty  power  of  the  Christian  spirit, 
as  well  as  in  Christian  truth  and  love,  from  which  Clement 
must  have  derived  bis  idea  of  this  confederacy,   and  then 
the  rfteans  of  cunning,  force,  and  deceit,  which  he  is  said 
to  have  employed  to  carry  this  idea  into  effect ; — a  se- 
ries of  profane  and   mysterious  contrivances  worse  than 
the  Jewish  and  heathen  priests  ever  employed,  who  could 
not  thus   profane  the  truth   itself,  because  they  knew  it 
not ;  the  forging  of  numerous  fraudulent  works  ;  the  out- 
witting and  persecuting  of  Christian  brethren,  (the  mem- 
bers of  John's  Society  of  Theologians,)   a  multitude  of 
secret  deeds  of  violence,  and   the  murdering  and   poison- 
ing of  emperors ; — and  all  this,  without  a  single  trace  of 
evidence    worthy  of   historical    credence.      The  whole 
hypothesis  of  the  author  originated  in  a  want  of  belief  in 
the   exaltation  of  human  nature  and  in  Christianity,  its 
most  sacred  concern  ;  and  a  vain  wish  to  make  some 
new  discovery." 

respecting  Hadrian;  S. 304— 313,  respecting  Marcus  Aurelius,  all 
of  which  agrees  with  what  Eichstadt  has  said  upon  the  same  sub- 
ject; and  S.  315 — 322,  respecting  Lucian  not  a  friend  of  Christians. 


316  APPENDIX,  D. 


D.  p.  187. 

Whether  the  idea  of  founding  a  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth  is  to 
be  met  with  before  the  time  of  Christ. 

It  is  an  essential*  link  in  the  chain  of  Reinhard's  in- 
vestigation, to  prove,  that  no  human  mind  before  Jesus 
ever  conceived  the  exalted  idea  of  uniting  the  w'hole 
human  family  together  in  a  kin^^dom  of  God,  and  found- 
ing a  universal  church  for  the  salvation  of  all.  The  au- 
thor has  exhibited  the  historical  deduction  of  this  asser- 
tion in  a  very  clear  and  convincing  manner,  and  v^rith  re- 
gard to  it  entered  into  such  detail  as  to  include  persons, 
who  may  seem  as  it  were  to  have  stood  too  low  to  be 
deemed  worthy  of  a  comparison  with  Jesus ;  and  many 
have  expressed  their  cordial  approbation  of  the  conclusion 
to  which  he  has  arrived.*  There  are  not  wanting 
those,  however,  who  dissent  from  him,  in  this  respect, 
maintain  the  opposite,  and  believe  the  idea  of  a  king- 
dom of  God  to  have  had  an  existence  long  before  the 
time  of  Christ. 

I.  (a)  Fesslerf  appeals,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  language 

*  Zacharia,  Die  Einheit  des  Staats  und  der  K.,  1797,  S.  9.  Anm. 
*'  Whence  comes  it,  that  the  heathen  philosophers,  who,  since  the 
time  of  Anaxagoras,  [?  vid.  Ritter,  Geschichte  der  lonischen  Philoso- 
phic,] have  certainly  brought  forward  some  very  worthy  notions  re- 
specting the  Godhead;  have  never  ortce  conceived  the  idea  of  a 
church?"  Tzschirner,  Der  Fall  des  Heidenthums,  S.  37.  "The 
religious  creed  of  the  Greeks  embodied  no  such  idea  as  that  of  a 
kingdom  of  God."  [It  is  an  idea  of  which  men  must  remain  desti- 
tute until  they  receive  it  from  God,  from  whom  it  derives  its  exis- 
tence,— until  he  himself  founds  a  kingdom  and  calls  mankind  into 
it.  Comp.  Kant,  Religion  innerhalb  der  Grenzen  d.  bl.  V.,  S.  141. 
2te.  A..  "  To  found  a  moral  people  of  God,  is  a  work,  therefore,  the 
execution  of  which  cannot  be  expected  from  men,  but  only  from 
God  himself."] 

t  Ansichten  von  Relig.  u.  Kirchenthum,  I.  180.  "  The  sublime 
and  rational  idea  of  Jesus  had  had  an  existence  as  a  contemplation 
in  the  minds  of  many  select  persons,  long  before  it  was  expressed 
undor  the  symbol  of  a  kingdom  of  God  founded  among  men,  and, 
through  the  influence  of  religion,  filled  with  eternal  peace  ;  and 
these  persons,  penetrated  with  the  sacred  feeling  of  religion,  had 


APPENDIX,   D.  317 

of  Hermes  Trismegistus  in  Poemander,  without  asking  a 
single  word  respecting  the  age  to  which  this  w^ork  be- 
longs. The  critic  cannot  date  it  farther  back  than  the 
fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  as  it  commingles 
Christian  notions  and  in  part  New  Testament  express- 
ions, with  cabalistic  and  New  Platonic  ones.*  Besides, 
one  would  deceive  himself  should  he  expect  to  find  the 
subject  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  mentioned  in  these 
Hermetical  oracles.  The  passages  collected  together 
by  Fessler  contain  nothing  but  such  general  religious 
views  respecting  the  nature  of  God,  the  relation  of  God 
to  the  world,  and  raising  one's  self  to  him  in  language,  as 
we  might  expect  from  the  above  named  schools.  Ttie 
same  writer  farther  appeals  to  the  Pythagoreans  and  Es- 
senes,f  who  founded  religious  communities  in  Egypt  and 
Palestine.  As  regards  those  of  the  Pythagoreans,  who, 
when  this  society  was  destroyed,  fled  into  Egypt,  there 
is  not  the  least  particle  of  proof  that  they  ever  thought 
of  a  universal  kingdom  of  God  in  any  of  their  connex- 
ions with  this  order.  Such  an  idea  seems  to  have  been 
as  foreign  from  their  mind  as  from  that  of  their  master. 
Nor  do  those  writers  by  whom  the  names  of  several  of 
these  Pythagoreans  have  been  preserved,  say  a  single 
syllable  respecting  such   a  plan.f     With  respect   to  the 


collected  around  them  associates,  and  such  as  were  susceptible  of 
their  own  illumination,  and,  for  tile  purpose  of  representing  the  in- 
finite in  the  finite,  united  them  together  in  churches."  The  passa- 
ges are,  as  is  evident  from  a  comparison,  taken,  without  any  very 
accurate  reference,  from  the  translation  of  Pcemander  by  Tiede- 
mann,  Berl.,  1781 ;  especially  from  S.  79.  87.  96.  45.  73,  74. 

*  Vid.  Exercit.  Antibar.  according  to  Casaubon,  I.  c.  10.  p.  66 
—80,  ed.  Gen.,  1663;  Fabric,  Biblioth.  Grace,  I.  46seqq.  ;  Cud- 
worth,  Syst.  Int.  ed.  Mosh.,  Ten.,  p.  373—389  ;  [True  Intellect.  Syst. 
ofthe  Universe,  Vol.  I.  pp.  319—334,2ded.Lond.  1743.  Tr.]  ;  Bruck- 
er,  Hist.  Crit.  Philos.,  1.260 seqq  ;  especially  Meiner,  Versuch  Ober 
die  Religionsgesch.  d.  alt.  Volker,  bes.  d.  Aegypt.  S.  202 — 249,  which 
is  not  weakened  by  Kreuzer,  Symbolik,  I.  363  ff.  381  f 

t  In  the  Ansichten,  S.  184  ff". 

t  Diogen.  Laert.  1.  VIII.  Segm.  46.  p.  524,  ed,  Wetst. ;  lamblich., 
De  vita  Pythaff.,'c.  36.  p.  215,  ed.  Kust. 

27* 


318  APPENDIX,    D. 

Essenes,  Fessler  himself  acknowledges,  (S.  187  f.)  "  that 
they  were  occupied  with  the  dignity  and  sanctity  of  their 
internal  life,  rather  than  possessed  of  the  dignity  and 
sanctity  of  religion  itself,  and  hence,  fell  into  absolute 
exclusiveness."  It  is  in  vain  to  seek  for  any  thing  among 
them,  therefore,  which  can  be  opposed  to  the  proof  of 
Rein  hard. 

(6)  But  did  not  Plato,  in  the  conception  which  he  form- 
ed of  his  state,  also  include  the  conception  of  a  kingdom 
of  God  ?  One  might,  perhaps,  be  inclined  to  admit  this 
from  the  fact,  that  the  state,  a  plan  of  which  he  projected, 
was  an  ideal  one,  the  original  of  which  was  to  be  found 
on!y  in  the  celestial  world  ;^  and  that  his  state  was  not 
merely  a  juridical,  but  an  ethical  commonwealth,  in  which, 
the  moral  culture  of  the  citizensf  was  to  be  promoted 
by  a  good  educationj  and  by  religion,  which  he  consid- 
ered as  essential  parts  of  his  state,  and  blended  with  all 
its  regulations.^  Some  intimations  at  least  made  with 
a  reference  to  this  subject,  have  been  given  in  our 
time.  II     These  intimations,  however,  are  not  of  such  a 

*  T)e  Republ.,  1.  V.  p.  51.  1.  IX.  281,  (Bip.  Tom.  7;)  comp. 
Clem.  Alex.,  Strom.,  1.  4,  extr.  p.  543.  Sylb.,  lofuv  ds  y.ai  rtjv  ZKa- 
twvog  noXiv,  naqadny^ia  iv  ov()av(a  xtiutvtjv. 

t  De  Republ.,  1.  IV.  378,  (Tom.  6.)  VI.  114.  VII.  1.33.  VIII.  186, 
(Tom.  7.)  De  Legg.,  I.  16seqq.  IV.  164.  V.  203.  217,  (Tom.  8.) 
IX.  4.  21,  (Tom.  9.) 

t  De  Republ.,  II.  246  seq.  IV.  334  ;  De  Legg.,  I.  18  seq.  41  seq. 
VI.  279  seq.,  especially  1.  VII.  from  the  beginning  p.  320,  (Tom.  8.) 

§  De  Republ.,  II.  253;  De  Legg.,  1.  I.  from  the  beginning,  IV. 
185.  VI.  185,  266.  VII.  352,  and  especially  X.  from  the  beginning 
p.  66  seqq.  (Tom.  9.) 

II  Koppen,  Politik  nach  Platonischen  Grundsatzen  mit  Anwen- 
dung  auf  unsre  Zeit,  S.  79,  L.  1818.  "  Plato  and  Christ  originally 
had  precisely  the  same  thing  in  view,  namely,  promoting  the  wel- 
fare of  the  human  race,  by  putting  them  in  possession  of  a  very 
high  degree  of  virtue  and  an  internal  moral  harmony  of  the  free 
mind,  which  should  prove  a  source  of  many  commendable  deeds, 
and  of  lasting  good  to.,inankind." — S.81.  "  We  find  essentially  the 
same  (namely  the  moral  and  religious  perfection  of  the  feelings  by 
means  of  the  church,)  to  be  the  object  of  a  state  Qonstructed  upon 
Plato's  principles." — S.  97.     "  The  object  of  Plato's  state  and  of 


APPENDIX,    D.  319 

character  as  to  Imply,  that  the  idea  which  Plato  had  of 
his  state,  was  Identically  that  of  the  Christian  church. 
Indeed,  the  oudines  of  Plato's  conception  "will  by  no 
means  justify  such  intimations. — Admit  the  state  of  which 
Plato  conceived  to  be  a  mental  creation,  as  he  conceived 
of  certain  archetypes  for  all  the  objects  of  philosophical  in- 
vestigation, yet  it  was  a  mental  creation  only  of  a  politi- 
cal, earthly  state.  The  heavenly  world  in  which  the  pro- 
totype of  this  state  was  to  be  found,  was  not  such  a  heav- 
en as  the  Christian  has  in  view, — the  glorious  kingdom  of 
spirits,  but  the  intellectual  world  of  ideas,  (De  Republ.  VII. 
157seqq. ;)  and  hence,  the  first  thing  to  be  done,  is  to 
find  out  the  form  of  that  conception.  Now  inspection  is 
sufficient  of  itself  to  teach  us  that  the  republic  of  Plato 
was  as  far  removed  from  bearing  any  resemblance  to  the 
church  of  Christ  as  the  earth  is  from  heaven.  The 
church  is  a  union  which  calls  men  to  separate  themselves 
from  the  world  and  become  members  of  a  higher  and 
divine  community.  Plato's  state,  on  the  other  hand,  be- 
gan altogether  with  the  earth,  was  confined  to  the  narrow 
sphere  of  a  city,  and  constructed  with  a  reference  to  sub- 
lunary wants,  (De  Republ.  II.  230  seqq.)  "  Plato's  ob- 
ject was  to  form  a  Grecian  state,  the  inhabitants  of  which 
should  be  lovers  of  Greece,  and  for  this  purpose  he  pro- 
jected one  which  should  serve  as  a  pattern  for  his  nation 
and  countrymen,"  (Koppen,  1.  c.  S.  73  ;)  but  It  was  very 
far  removed  from  being  a  universal  kingdom  of  God, 
comprehending  the  whole  human  family.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  often  presupposes  this  state  to  be  engaged  in 
war  with  its  neighbours,  and  one  important  object  to  be 
kept  in  view  in  all  its  acts,  was  to  form  bold  defenders 
of  the  country  ;  and  hence,  even  women  were  to  be  pre- 


Christianity  and  its  exalted  faith  is  the  free  choice  of  the  highest 
good  together  with  the  harmonious  dispositions  and  charitable  emo- 
tions before  which,  selfishness  and  physical  enjoyment  shrink  away 
in  silence." — S.  347.  "  The  republic  of  Plato,  though  very  far  from 
ever  having  been  realized,  kept  the  nature  of  all  right,  and  moral 
harmony,  in  view,  and,  in  its  civil  regulations,  sought  to  furnish 
means  for  producing  genuine  and  lasting  moral  effects." 


320  APPENDIX,  D. 


pared  by  education  to  share  in  the  labors  of  war,  (De  , 
Republ.  V.  p.  8  ;  De  Legg.  VII.  373.)  Of  course  this 
state  could  not  be  left  destitute  of  moral  education  ;  for 
as  it  contained  no  church  or  ecclesiastical  institutions 
which  aimed  at  the  moral  and  religious  education  of  its 
members,  so  it  was  obliged  to  furnish  a  remedy  for  these 
defects  ;  to  accomplish  which  object,  political  education 
and  moral  were  blended  together,  as  ethics  and  politics 
were  always  united  among  the  ancients.*  The  result  of 
this,  however,  was,  that  the  idea  of  a  purely  moral  and  re- 
ligious community  of  men,  exalted  above  all  civil  rela- 
tions, was  kept  entirely  out  of  view. 

The  first  requisite,  however,  in  forming  a  kingdom  of 
God,  is  to  lay  a  pure  religion  at  the  basis,  and  form  a 
creed  adapted  for  community  at  large,  and  of  universal 
authority,  and  at  the  same  time  of  such  a  character  as  to 
unite  all  hearts  together  and  bind  them  to  God  himself. 
If  Plato,  therefore,  ever  had  any  idea  of  a  genuine  king- 
dom of  God,  we  ought  to  discover  hints  in  his  works  re- 
specting the  introduction  of  a  pure  religious  creed  instead 
of  the  Polytheism  then  prevalent  and  so  prejudicial  to  the 
union  of  mankind.  So  far,  however,  are  we  from  find- 
ing any  thing  in  them  respecting  the  abolition  of  a  re- 
ligion which  had  once  been  sanctioned  by  the  state,  that 
on  the  other  hand,  he  urges  the  legislator  with  all  earnest- 
ness to  preserve  it  unchanged.  "No  man,"  says  he, 
"  who  has  sense,  whether  he  undertakes  to  erect  a 
new  state  from  the  very  foundation,  or  merely  to  re- 
store an  old  one  which  has  been  broken  down,  will  at- 
tempt to  change  those  things  relative  to  the  gods  and  to 
sacred  ceremonies  which  ought  to  be  stable, — from  what- 
ever gods  or  demons  they  may  have  received  their  ap- 


*  Koppen,  1.  c.  S,  1 — 35.  58,  shows  this  very  circumstantially  and 
goes  so  far  as  to  recommend  this  combination  at  the  present  time. 
He  even  asserts,  S.  79,  that,  for  this  very  reason,  modern  states 
when  compared  with  the  ancient,  would  scarcely  have  retained  any 
spiritual  life,  had  not  Christianity  by  its  mighty  operation  excited 
higher  reflection,  and  proved  the  means  of  advancing  an  internal 
virtue  at  which  the  state  had  not  aimed. 


APPENDIX,    D.  321 

pellation.  Nor  should  the  legislator  touch  in  any  respect 
that  which  is  founded  upon  the  authority  of  the  ora- 
cle, or  upon  sacred  old  sayings."'^  In  perfect  accord- 
ance with  this  serious  admonition  is  his  prescription  that 
every  archon  should  offer  sacrifice  for  himself  and  the 
state  every  day  of  the  365,  (De  Legg.  Vlll.  396,)  as 
well  as  for  those  who  have  been  guilty  of  bitter  resent- 
ment against  the  gods,  and  contemning  the  old  religion 
which  they  drew  in  from  their  mother's  breast,  (lib. 
X.  71.  Tom.  9.)  It  cannot  appear  strange  that  as 
long  as  this  Polytheistical  religion  existed,  their  remain- 
ed no  sacred,  internal  bond  for  uniting  together  the 
hearts  of  the  members  of  this  community ;  and  hence, 
that,  in  order  to  produce  such  a  close  connexion  between 
them,  Plato  fell  into  the  error  of  recommending  to  his 
state,  a  community  of  wives  ;f  thinking  in  this  way  to 
induce  all  to  consider  each  other  as  brothers  and  sisters. 
Such  they  would  have  been  indeed,  but  in  what  sense? 
Certainly  none  but  a  physical  one.J     Such  a  regulation 

*  De  Legg.  1.  V.  226,  227,  (Bip.  Tom.  8.)  Ovr'  av  xairijv  «!  aq- 
j(rjg  Tig  7toi\i,  ovr'  av  naXaiav  discp^aQ/nsvyjv  t7iioy.tvaLy]rai^  tibqi  &£(jjv 
re  xai  isQvjv  urxa  re  ev  rt]  TtoXei  exaaroig  idQVO&ai  det,  y.ai  mv  rivotv 
enovouaLeo&ai  -d^ecav  t]  daiuovwv,  ovdsig  e/ii/eiQtjOEi  xivslv  vow  t/wr. 
' Ooa  ex  JeXifwv — y]  rireg  erceioav  7ra?.aioi  Xoyoi, — r ovrwv  voi.iodfi\l  ro 
a/nixqaraTov  uTvavrtov  ovSsv  xi.vr]reov.  So  also  Plutarch,  De  Is.  et  Osiris, 
Opp.  VII.  419,  afterwards  called  a  wish  to  make  changes  in  an  es- 
tablished religion, — a  wish,  a;;^t'^/Ta  y.irsiv,  and  hence,  p.  420,  bitter- 
ly censured  Evemerus;  Max.  Tyr.  Diss.  8.  I.  14G,  Reisk.  ra  xei- 
f.ieva  evniev,  rag  (pijUag  tcov  xfeiov  anode j^ousvoi,  y.at  ipvkarrovreg  au- 
Tojv  ra  avfi^oX.a,  wanto  y.ai  ra  ovouara, 

t  Not  merely  in  the  De  Republ.  1.  V.  19seqq.,  but  also  in  the  De 
Legg.  1.  V.  229,  which  books  relate  more  to  practical  legislation,  and 
were  written  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life. 

t  De  Republ.  V.  32.  24  seq.,  where  he  expresses  a  belief  that  a 
better  race  of  men  can  be  produced  by  physical  means.  Comp.  III. 
319,  where  he  evinces  an  anxiety  to  have  the  citizens  persuaded  by 
means  of  fiction  to  consider  themselves  as  autochthons,  as  sprung 
entirely  from  the  earth,  in  order  that,  as  yrjYereig,  they  might  think 
and  feel  towards  each  other,  like  brethren.  The  idea  which  he  had 
of  his  community  as  well  as  much  of  a  general  character,  was  proba- 
bly borrowed  from  the  Spartan  constitution,  in  which  state,  accord- 
ing to  Plutarch,  Lycurg.,  Opp.  I.  194  s.,  something  of  this  kind  was 
actually  to  be  found,  and  the  women  were  celebrated  for  being  <pat- 


322  APPENDIX,    D. 

would  not  have  accomplished  the  object  for  which  it  was 
intended,  but  necessarily  have  proved  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  the  nobler  moral  community.  As  unworthy 
as  this  means  would  have  been  of  an  ethical  commu- 
nity,* others  are  recommended  which  would  have  been 
equally  immoral  and  improper ;  as,  for  instance,  the  use 
of  deceptive  arts  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  peo- 
ple, such  dissimulation  being  extolled  as  noble,  De  Re- 
publ.  1.  III.  318.  V.  23;  the  dancing  of  the  two  sexes 
together  naked,  De  legg.  VT.  291  ;  and  also  the  drinking 
of  wine,  De  legg.  I.  54  s.  11.  58.  86.  By  looking  at  the 
nature  of  the  means  to  be  employed  for  purposes  of  ed- 
ucation and  improvement,  we  may  sufficiently  ascertain  the 
character  of  the  spirit  of  the  state  which  was  to  apply  them. 
Moreover,  apart  from  the  preceding  considerations, 
what  Plato  uttered  relative  to  this  subject,  was  merely  by 
way  of  sporting  with  ideas  and  without  any  intimation  of 
a  serious  effort  to  realize  the  state  which  he  described. 
This  he  frankly  admits,f  and  once,  indeed,  he  goes  so  far 
as  to  make  a  humiliating  confession  in  this  respect. 
"  Those,"  says  he,  "  who  are  acquainted  with  the  insan- 
ity of  man,  and  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  their  ac- 
complishing any  thing  in  opposition  to  a  rough  nation, 
(which  he  compares  to  a  wild  beast,  De  Republ.  VI.  88,) 
choose  the  tranquillity  of  retirement  and  attend  exclu- 
sively to  their  own  concerns.  Sensible  that  death  would 
overtake  them  before  they  could  do  any  thing  for  their 
friends  or  the  state  should  they  make  the  attempt,  and 
consequently,  th^t  their  labors  would  be  useless  both  to 
themselves  and  others,  they  seek  shelter  within  their  own 

romjQidsg,   and  avSnouavBig,  Comparat.   Lycurg.  et  Numae,  p.  306 — 
308.     [Plutarch's  Lives,  &c.  Vol  I.  p.  128.     Tr.] 

*  It  was  customary  in  Rome  for  women  to  read  Plato's  Republic  ; 
Why  ?  says  Epicteti  Fragm,  53,  in  the  Schweighaus.  Monumenta, 
Tom.  III.  84. 

t  De  Legg.  V.  222  ;  ?.oyco  y^  san  ra  vw,  aX?.^  ovx  tQym  TTQarrofitva. 
Perhaps  it  is  with  reference  to  this  passage,  that  Gregor.  Naz.  says, 
Orat.  adv.  lulian.,  8.  p.  QG;  nojg  Ss  ov  -^avaatnv  a^iov  rovrovg,  oi  xat 
koyto  7i?MTTovai  TioXeigf  rag  s^yw  avarrjvai  firj  dvvafisvvcg  ; 


APPENDIX,   D.  323 

walls  from  the  storm,  as  it  were,  which  rages  without, 
satisfied  with  the  hope  of  preserving  themselves  pure 
from  injustice  and  unhallowed  acts,  and  closing  their  lives 
in  cheerfulness  and  well-wishing,  without  having  been 
able  to  do  any  thing  of  very  great  importance  unless  by 
chance  they  may  have  been  born  in  a  state  favorable  to 
them  in  this  respect."*  It  is  evident  that  Plato  was  very 
faint-hearted,  and  could  hardly  express  how  incapable  he 
felt  of  undertaking  any  thing  serious  even  for  his  own 
corrupt  citizens  in  Athens,  and  making  any  proposals  to 
them  for  effecting  a  radical  cure.  The  opinion  of  Diog- 
enes respecting  him  and  one  which  he  used  to  repeat 
whenever  he  heard  Plato  praised,  though  severe,  was 
certainly  well  founded  :  "  What  has  this  man  done  wor- 
thy of  honor,  who,  notwithstanding  the  length  of  time  he 
has  attended  to  philosophy,  has  never  yet  caused  any  one 
to  grieve  ;  [that  is,  according  to  the  connexion]  has  never 
yet  brought  any  one  to  the  salutary  pangs  of  repentance  ?"f 
with  which,  the  opinion  of  Origen  agrees  :{  ''  What  Pla- 
to said  respecting  the  chief  good,  however  true,  aided 
neither  his  hearers  nor  himself,  notwithstanding  he  had 
philosophized  so  much  about  it,  in  attaining  to  genuine 
piety ;  while  the  simple  language  of  the  sacred  S.criptures 
fills  those  who  read  them  correctly,  with  holy  ardor  of 
soul."  Eusebius  also  evinces  a  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  true  cause  of  Plato's  inefficacy  as  well  as  that 
of  all  the  ancient  philosophers,  when  he  says  :§    "  Plato 


*  De  Rep.,  1.  VI.  95,  96. 

t  Plutarch  De  Virtute  Morali  extr.  0pp.  VII.  776.  Tl  S'  sxuvo? 
tj(ti  Osuvov,  6g  rooovTov  ;|fQovov  (fi?.oao(p(}}v,  ov$Bva  ?.tkv7i:Tjxsr'  ', 

X  Contia  Cels.,  1.  VI.  c.  5.  Opp.  I.  633.  'Oqa  on  »;  f,iiviv  ID.arwvi 
TttQt  rovTov  uXii&eia  ovdev  w?  TiQog  siPuxQivrj  evos^siav  tovrjot  rovg  tvrvy- 
jravovrag^  a?.X^  ovS^  avrov  ra  roiavra  nsQi  rov  TtQwrov  aya&ov  q>i?.ooo' 
fprjaavra  '   tj  ds  r<x>v  -d-eivciv  yqaiiuaruiv  tvrsXyig  /fs^S  ev&ovaiav   Tcsjtoiyjxa 

§  Demonstrat.  Evangel.  1.  III.  c.  6.  p.  129,  130,  Col.  Exsiva 
ft,tv  xai  «§yov  evQsiv  sSoxsi  ra  nqayua  xai  rjv  ai$  a?.7]-9-a}g  ^uyiaxov  udv- 
varov  8s  rjv  avrin  Itytiv  tig  rcavrag,  on  iirj  tiuqiiv  avrco  roaavrtj  rig  evas- 
^siag  $vva^ig,  oat]  roig  Iijaov  jiia&rjTaig,  oig  dia  rtjg  rov  8i8aoxaXov  aw- 


324  APPENDIX,    D. 

seems  to  have  considered  it  a  difficult  problem  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  and  Father  and  to  make 
him  known,  (Timaeus,  Opp.  IX.  303  ;)  and  indeed  it 
was  also  the  principal  one.  It  was  impossible,  however, 
for  him  to  announce  what  he  knew  of  the  Deity  to  all, 
because  of  his  being  destitute  of  that  strength  of  piety 
which  the  disciples  of  Jesus  possessed,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  which  in  connexion  with  the  assistance  of  their 
master,  it  was  not  only  easy  for  them  to  discover  God, 
and  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  Father  and  Creator  of  the 
universe,  but  also,  after  they  had  discovered  him,  to  ex- 
tend this  knowledge  to  all  classes  of  people  and  proclaim 
it  to  mankind  at  large."  But  should  any  one  after  all, 
adhere  to  the  belief,  that  Plato's  conception  of  his  state, 
resembled  Christ's,  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  yet  it  remains 
unquestionable  that  not  the  least  trace  is  to  be  found  in 
Plato's  works  of  an  intention  to  carry  this  conception  in- 
to actual  execution. 

(c)  We  have  now  to  inquire,  whether  any  intimations 
of  the  idea  at  present  before  us  are  to  be  discovered 
among  the  stoics,  especially  the  later  ones  of  Epictetus' 
school.*  These  sects  looked  upon  the  world  as  a  whole, 
and  mankind  as  its  inhabitants.  They  imagined  all  men 
to  be  united  together  in  one  exalted  state,  subjected  to 
one  order,  and  bound  by  one  law  of  universal  validity ; 
and  hence,  they  deduced  the  obligation  of  all  men  to 
consider  each  other  as  brethren  and  to  exert  their  efforts 
and  offer  themselves  in  sacrifice  to  promote  the  general 
good.f     These  conceptions  may  at  first  glance  seem  to 


iQyiaq,  rov  naxtqa  xai  di]uiovQyov  tov  okmv  tvQtiv  re  xai  yvon-ai  ^aSiov 
ysyors,  xat  sVQovoiv  stg  nav  ysyog  avdiitnTioiv  i'i,hviyy.ii\.,  avaxa?.vy,'ai  re 
xai  Ti?-tjQojOai,  xai  xyjov^ai  rijv  yrwoiv  naaiv. 

•  Ammon  in  the  Summa  Theolog.  Christ.,  ed.  3,  p.  8,  after  hav- 
ing shown  the  spiritual  purport  of  the  Scriptural  representation  of 
the  kingdom  of  God,  observes  that  "  Eodem  tendunt,  quae  Stoici 
de  mundo,  comrauni  hominum  et  numinis  civitate  (Cicero  Fin.  III. 
19,)  et  de  sacro  universi  vinculo  (avrdsoig  [fQa,  Antonin.  De  se  ipso, 
lib.  VII.  §  9,)  seu  veritate  a  numine  proveniente  philosophati  sunt." 

t  The  principal  passages  in  addition  to  those  quoted  in  the  above 


APPENDIX,    D.  325 

resemble  that  of  Christ.  Upon  a  closer  and  more  thor- 
ough examination  of  them,  however,  it  will  be  impossi- 
ble not  to  perceive  an  essential  difference. 

It  is  true,  the  Stoics  gave  an  exahed  description  of  the 
order  of  the  world  and  the  harmony  of  the  universe. 
Of  this,  the  hymn  of  Cleanthes  is  a  splendid  memorial.* 
The  order,  however,  which  they  described  was  only  that 
existing  in  the  kingdom  of  nature,-  to  which  man  himself 
belonged  as  a  part,  and  not  in  any  respect  that  of  a  king- 
dom of  freedom  or  a  kingdom  of  grace,  in  which  hearts 
are  united  together  in  the  harmony  of  faith  and  love, 
and  of  a  free  community  entered  into  by  mankind  for 
this  purpose.  Their  idea  of  the  order  of  the  world  is  ren- 
dered very  clear  and  intelligible  from  the  explanation  given 
of  it  by  Zeno  the  founder  of  the  Stoical  school,  in  Diogenes 
Laertius,  (lib.  VII.  Segm.  138  s.  p.  451,  Wetst.)  in  which, 
after  having  mentioned  the  different  meanings  which  the 
Stoics  attached  to  the  word  xoof^og,  he  says  :  "  The  world 


note,  are  the  following  :  Arriani  Dissertatt.  Epictet.  1.  I.  c.  3.  et  9.  I. 
II.  c.  5.  §26.c.l0.  §3s.  C.14.  §  11  s.  25  s.  1.  III.  c.  24.  §  10.  15  et 
66,  in  the  first  vol.  of  Sweighaus.  Epictetet.  Philos.  Monumenta; 
Dio  Chrysostomus  in  the  Oratt.  ed.  Reiskiae,  Tom.  I,  p.  56  s.  388. 
391s.  41 3s.  556ss.  Tom.  II.  88s.  91 -s.  176.  and  Oratio  75,  De 
Lege  p.  406—9.  In  the  books  of  Marcus  Antoninus,  IIsqi  'Eavrov, 
there  are  very  many  passages  ;  as  for  instance,  II.  1  et  16  extr.  III. 
11.  IV.  4. 14  et  23.  V.  8  et  3] .  VI.  14.  42—44.  VII.  13  et  55.  ,VIII. 
7.  27  et  36.  IX.  1.  9  et  23.  XII.  31  ;•  Maxiraus  Tyr.  Diss.  12.  17.  19, 
Reisk.  I.  222.  316  s.  337  s.  363  s.  370  ss.;  of  Cicero,  the  following 
passages  belong  here;  De  Offic.  III.  5,  De  legg.  I.  7.  De  Republ. 
I.  13.  III.  22,  from  which  there  is  an  excellent  fragment  preserved  by 
Lactant.  Instit.  Div.  VI.  8 ;  Seneca,  De  Otio  Sap.  c.  31.  De  Be- 
nef  IV.  7  et  8.  Epist.  95.  Natur.  Quaest.  II.  45.  [Much  can  also 
be  found  to  the  purpose  in  Cudworth,  True  Intellectual  System  of 
the  Universe,  Vol.  I.  p.  419  seqq.  2d.  ed.  Lond.  1743,  and  Leland,  Ad- 
vantage and  Necessity  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  Vol.  I.  Chap. 
XIII.  p.  231  seqq.  Vol.  II.  Chap.  IX.  122 seqq.  and  elsewhere,  Dubl. 
1766.  The  most  full  and  satisfactory  account,  however,  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Stoics,  is  to  be  found  in  Tennemann,  Geschichte  der 
Philosophic,  4er  Band.,  S.  38fF.  5er  B.  S.42fF.  S.  140  ff.  and  else- 
,where.     Tr.] 

*  [This  hymn  together  with  a  Latin  translation  is  to  be  found  in 
Cudworth,  True  Intellectual  System  of  the  Universe,  p.  432  seqq., 
2d.  ed..  Lond.,  1743.     Tr.] 
28 


326  APPENDIX,    D. 

is  that  which  gives  to  the  substance  of  the  universe  its  pe- 
culiar quality  or  form,  or  the  system  of  the  heaven  and 
earth  and  the  natures  they  contain  ;  or  the  system  compos- 
ed of  gods  and  men  and  those  things  created  for  their  sake. 
The  heaven  is  the  ultimate  circle  within  which  the  whole 
Deity  resides.  The  world  is  governed  by  a  spirit,  and  by 
providence,  and  the  spirit  pervades  all  parts  of  the  world, 
as  the  soul  does  all  parts  of  us."**  Here,  clearly  ex- 
pressed, we  have  the  notions  of  the  Stoics  respecting  the 
existing  order  of  the  physical  world,  as  handed  down  in  the 
works  of  the  rest  of  this  sect.  According  to  their  views, 
this  order  was  already  in  existence  and  with  immovable 
necessity  pursued  its  course,  while  all  things  were  obliged 
to  yield  to  it,  (oAcu?  yag  €  ax iv  dgiiovva  fxia,  Marc.  Ant., 
V.  8 ;)  and  as  we  all  have  one  common  spirit,  one  rea- 
son, one  law,  so  likewise  we  are  all  citizens  and  partakers 
of  one  state  ;  and  consequently,  the  world  is  as  it  were 
a  state. f  How  different  is  this  from  the  Christian  king- 
dom of  God,  which  does  not  even  exist  in  nature  in  our 
world,  and  to  which  man  indeed,  does  not  naturally  be- 
long ;  but  which  had  first  to  come  into  the  world,  and  into 
which,  man  is  first  introduced  by  the  new  birth !  How- 
ever splendid  the  natural  order  of  the  world  may  be,  it 
does  not  furnish  man  with  that  saving  remedy,  which,  in 
his  present  universal  moral  corruption,  he  needs.f     To 

*  Man  xooitiog  6  iSiwg  noiog  [or  i^io/rotoc]  t»;5  tcov  oXov  ovaiag,  tj 
overrj^ia  f|  ovqavov  y.ai  yf;$,  >foti  twv  sv  rovroLg  ^vdsojv  "  r}  ovorr^ina  sx 
-^scov  y.ai  av&QVJTTOJv,  xai  Tcor  svsxa  xovxtav  yiyovoioiv  ovqavog  8s  tariv  ij 
BOxarrj  nsQicpsQeia,  sv  tj  nav  iSqvrai  to  ^siov  rov  dyj  y.oouov  oixnod^at 
y.ara  vow  y.ai  nqovoiav,  iig  anav  avrov  utfjog  Sir^xovrog  rov  vov,  xa&a- 
mq  cy'  ijuav  rrjg  xjjvxrjg.  [Comp.  Leland,  Advantage  and  Necessity 
of  the  Christian  Revelation,  &c.    Vol.  I.  242,  Dublin,  1766.    Tr.] 

t  Marc.  Anton.  IV.  4.  Ei  to  vosqov  ^/itv  xoivov,  xai  o  layog,  xa^* 
ov  y.oyixoi  sousv,  xoivog  '  si  rovro,  xai  6  nQooraxrixog  rarv  TtoitjXtojv  ij 
jUj/,  Xoyog  xoivog  '  ti  rovro ^  xai  6  voiiog  xoivog  '  si  rovro,  nolirai  sousv  * 
£t  rovroy  nokirsvt.iarog  rivog  jUeTs/o^ifv*  ci  rovro,  6  xoouog  MOavsi  no2.ig 
tan' 

X  Excellent  is  the  remark  of  Tatianus,  Orat.  ad  Graec.  p.  458,  ed. 
Col.  KoOfiov  jiiiv  7j  xaraaxsvT],  xa7.ri'  to  8t  iv  avrm  noXirsv/na,  ipavlov. 
xai,  xa&amq  sv  navyjyvQsi,  ■9sarQOX07ioviisvovg  svsanv  idsiv,  rovg  ovx 
et(JoTag  Tov  -d^sov 


APPENDIX,    D.  327 

this  it  should  be  added,  that  the  notions  of  the  Stoics 
respecting  the  order  of  the  world  incline  very  strongly  to- 
wards Pantheism  and  Fatalism  ;  and  this  destroys  ev- 
ery thing  like  the  pure  idea  of  a  moral  kingdom  of  God, 
or  at  least,  renders  it  very  obscure.  If  man  resembles 
a  player's  ball  which  is  now  thrown  up,  and  then  knocked 
down,  (Marc.  Anton.  VIII.  20.  IX.  17  ;)  if  every  thing 
that  happens  to  him  has  been  destined  from  eterni- 
ty, and  the  concatenation  of  causes  has  interwoven 
our  personal  self  and  these  external  circumstances  into 
one  ;*  if  man  is  to  bear  every  thing  that  befalls  him  with 
an  inflexible,  apathetic  resignation,  merely  because  he  is 
an  unchangeable  part  of  the  whole,  and  what  does  not  in- 
jure the  whole  cannot  injure  the  individual  parts,  (M.  A. 
V.  22.  X.  6  and  34.  XI.  8  and  18;)  if  man  is  altogether 
uncertain  of  his  future  destination  and  doubtful  whether  the 
soul  being  the  vapor  of  blood,  (V.  33)  is  entirely  to 
perish,  or  to  pass  through  a  transmutation,  {a(3iGtg. 
fifTaavaocg,  V.  33,)  or  to  be  dissolved  into  the  uni- 
verse, (TV.  14  and  21.  Vll.  10.  X.  7;)  if,  therefore, 
suicide  is  expressly  to  be  permitted,  (III.  1.  V.  29.  X.  8  ;) 
and,  finally,  if  destruction  threatens  the  whole  world,  and 
Jupiter,  after  this  great  conflagration,  is  to  remain  alone, 
(Arrian,  Diss.  Epict.  III.  13.  §4,  comp.  Schweighauser's 
Anm.,  Tom.  II.  P.  2.  p.  671  ;) — if  such  are  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Stoics,  then  must  our  opinion  of  the  views  they 
entertained  respecting  the  world,  rank  very  low.  Now  admit 
that  the  Stoical  school  was  acquainted  with  the  moral  law  as 
a  holy  law,  of  universal  validity  and  written  upon  every  heart, 
(as  excellently  described  by  Cicero,  De  Republ.  III.  22  ;) 
there  is  still  a  very  great  chasm  between  this  knowledge 
and  the  fixed  plan  of  procuring  for  this  law  universal 
influence,  and,  for  this  purpose,  calling  mankind  into  a  free 
community,  and  consequently  establishing  a  genuine  king- 

y,r^  av  ooi  av^i^aivrt,  Tovro  ooi  s^  aionog  TCQO/iaTsoy.svatsro  '  ,  y.ai 
»/  erciTcP.oy.r}  rwv  airnav  ouvsyj.uj^s  rijv  rs  or]v  vrcooxaoiv  «!  a'Cdtov,  teat 
rr}v  rovrov  auufiaaiv  Marc.  Ant,  X.  5.  Buddeus  in  the  treatise  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Well.  Ausg.  p.  45,  understands  the  avvdi- 
Gi$  itQci,  VII.  9,  of  the  band  of  fate. 


328  APPENDIX,    D. 

dom  of  God.  How  much  so  ever  these  Stoics  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  name  of  citizens  of  the  world^  which 
they  borrowed  from  Socrates  and  Diogenes,  we  find  among 
them  nothing  like  a  determination,  to  procure  for  the  sacred 
law  of  God  a  public  and  external  influence  and  spread  the 
truth  over  the  earth.  Antoninus  despaired  of  ever  obtain- 
ing better  hopes  for  this  world.  "Fidelity  and  modesty, 
justice  and  truth,"  complains  he,  "  have  fled  from  earth  to 
heaven.  What  then  is  there  left  to  detain  thee  here  ?"  (V. 
33.)  "  Hope  not  for  a  Platonic  state,  but  satisfy  thyself  with 
making  the  least  progress  in  the  business  of  thy  calling,"(IX. 
29.)  Seneca,  according  to  Augustin,  (DeCivit.  Dei,  VI.  c. 
10,  in  the  Fragments  of  Seneca,  Nr.  34,  in  the  first  part 
of  Tom.  I.,  Elsevir's  ed.  1672,)  spoke  with  great  frank- 
ness in  his  works  against  the  prevailing,  popular  relig- 
ion, but  did  nothing  to  substitute  a  better  religion  in  its 
stead  ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  satisfied  himself  with  that 
in  existence.  '*  Haec  omnia  sapiens  servabit,  tanquam 
legibus  iussa,  non  tanquam  Diis  grata."  The  vivifying 
spirit  of  the  holy  and  active  love  which  can  come  only 
from  that  vivifying  love  made  manifest  by  God,  breathed 
not  in  the  Stoa^  and  this  is  the  reason  why  we  cannot 
here  find  any  thing  that  fully  compares  with  the  idea  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.f 

II.  From  the  soil  of  heathen  philosophy,  we  will  now  pass 


*  Respectiag  Socrates,  vid.  Plutarch,  De  Exilio,  VIII.  371,  and 
Cicero,  Tusc.  V.  37;  respecting  Diogenes,  Plutarch,  De  Animi 
Tranq.,  VII.  865,  This  appellation  is  mentioned  by  way  of  ridicule 
in  Lucian,  Vitar.  Auct.  0pp.  Bip.  III.  89. 

t  What  Kestner  has  said  in  the  very  excellent  Appendix  to  his 
Agape,  S.  42,  is  very  true  :  *'  The  Stoics  strove  after  a  resemblance 
to  God,  but  the  moral  pattern  which  they  had  before  them  was  not 
that  of  a  living  God,  a  perfect  and  holy  Being,  but  the  cold  order 
of  the  willess  universe.  They  pretended  to  encircle  the  world  and 
its  inhabitants  in  the  arms  of  love,  but  their  love  was  a  mere  spe- 
culative concern ;  the  principle  of  moral  inclination  was  to  them 
the  gravitating  power  of  nature  which  holds  similar  particles  to- 
gether, (M.  Ant.  Eiq  savr.  X.  9.)  The  love  of  the  Stoics  was  a 
maxim,  not  a  feeling;  an  acquired  principle,  not  the  natural  tone 
of  a  religious  feeling." 


APPENDIX,   D.  329 

over  to  the  region  of  divine  revelation  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. And  here  an  examination  of  the  question,  Wheth- 
er any  intimations  or  prophecies  of  a  definite  character 
are  to  be  found  respecting  a  future  kingdom  of  God 
which  should  be  the  means  of  extending  true  religion 
among  all  nations  of  the  earth,  will  bring  us  to  a  different 
result  from  those  to  which  we  have  hitherto  been  led ; 
for  it  is  manifest  at  first  glance,  that  the  prophets  of  the 
Old  Testament  had  clear  views  of  the  future,  in  this  re- 
spect. Reinhard  acknowledges  this,*  though  he  has  but 
slightly  touched  upon  this  important  subject,  (pp.  263, 
264.)  It  may  be  well,  therefore,  to  investigate  this  point 
so  far  as  our  present  object  requires.  It  is  presented 
to  us  in  the  Old  Testament  in  two  ways ;  first,  in  gen- 
eral promises  of  a  time  in  which  the  darkness  of  the 
earth  should  give  away,  idolatry  be  destroyed,  sin  .ex- 
tirpated, and  the  knowledge  and  the  worship  of  the  true 
God  be  spread  abroad  over  the  world,  (vaticinia  Mes- 
siana  sensu  latiori ;)  and  second,  in  particular  predictions 
and  representations  of  the  great  instrument  by  which 
the  salvation  of  mankind  was  to  be  effected,  (vaticinia 
Messiana  sensu  strictiori.)  Our  object  is  to  show  how  a 
reference  to  the  salvation  of  the  whole  human  family, 
runs  throughout  the  Old  Testament ;  and  this  requires  us 
to  attend  only  to  the  first.  Traces  of  such  a  reference 
are  to  be  found  in  the  most  ancient  parts  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament history.     The  promises  that  were  made  to  Abra- 

*  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  first  sermon  printed  by 
Reinhard,  which  few  doubtless  have  seen,  treats  of  this  subject, 
and  is  headed  :  "  Respecting  the  influence  wiiich  was  exerted  by 
those  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  that  treat  of  Christ  and  iiis 
kingdom,  in  the  cultivation  of  the  heart  as  regards  piety  ;  a  sermon 
delivered  by  F.  V.  R.  in  the  parish-church  at  Wittemberg  on 
Mary's  Visitation,  in  1776,"  [from  the  lesson,  Isa.  11:  1 — 5,  upon 
which  he  comments  in  his  CFiristmas  Program  ma  of  1783,  Opusc. 
Acad.  II.  1 — 29  ;]  pp.  52,  strictly  speaking,  only  3G.  In  this  sermon, 
with  all  its  defects  in  other  respects,  we  recognise  Reinhard's  spirit 
and  language.  The  first  and  longest  part  takes  into  consideration 
the  prophecies  themselves  together  with  their  matter  and  proper  in- 
terpretation. The  second  describes  (1)  the  influence  which  these 
prophecies  are  adapted  to  exert  upon  our  present  knowledge,  be- 
lief,  and  hope. 

28*      ^ 


330  APPENDIX,    D. 

ham,  that  in  him   (Gen.  12:  3.   18:  18,)  or  in  his  seed, 
(Gen.  22:  18,)*  all    the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed, -^promises,  which  the  reasons  added,   (18:   19. 
22:  18,)  will  not  allow  us  to  interpret  of  a  temporal,  but 
must  be  understood  of  a  spiritual  Messing, — evidently  re- 
fer to  a  universal  plan,  which   God,  by  means  of  Abra- 
ham's posterity,   intended  to  carry  into  execution  for  a 
blessing  to  mankind.     With  these  before   us,  therefore, 
we  should   expect  nothing  else  than  to  find  allusions  in 
the  Psalms  of  David  to  the  age  in  which  the  heathen 
should  be  converted  to  the  true   God,  (Ps.  22:  28,  29. 
72:  8,  11,   17 — 19,)  and  to  the  extension  of  the  Mes- 
siah's kingdom  over  the  world,  (Ps.  2:  8.)     Now  definite 
predictions  of  this   kind   are  crowded   together  in   great 
numbers  in  the  prophets.     The  most  essential  traits  of  their 
representations  in  painting  the  splendid  future,  are  these  : 
Jehovah  is  to  be  acknowledged  and  worshipped   as  the 
only  true  God ;  his  name  is  to  be  feared   from  the  west, 
and  his  glorv  from   the  rising  of  the  sun,  (tsa.  2:  2 — 4. 
12:  4,  5.  59:  19.  Mai.  1:  11.)     Idolatry  is  to  be  abol- 
ished and   exhibited   in  its  nothingness,  (Isa.  2:  18.  40: 
21.  41:  24.    42:8,  17.    44:  11.    Zeph.  2:   11.)      The 
heathen  are  to  be  animated  with  a  desire  after  salvation, 
(Hag.  2:  7,)  are  to  turn  to  the  true  God  and   with  his  an- 
cient worshippers  to  become  a  nation  of  God,  (Isa.  42: 
6.45:22—24.49:6.    55:5.    60:3—5.65:1.)     The 
Lord  is  to  destroy  the  vail  spread  over  all  nations,  (Isa. 
25:  7,)  sacrifice  together  with  the  ark  of  the  covenant  is 
to  be  taken   away,  (Jer.  3:.16,)   and    a  new    covenant, 
not  a  cavenant  of  bondage,  but  of  a  free  and  willing  mind, 
is  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  one,  (Jer.  31:  31 — 34  ;) 
for  the  spirit  of  God  is  to  be  poured  out  upon  all  flesh, 
(Ezek.  36:  25— 28.    Joel  2:  28.    Zech.   12:10.)     They 
are  to  worship  God  in  truth  and  righteousness,  (Zech.  8: 

*  The  correct  meaning  of  these  passages  has  been  defended 
against  Jurieu.  Clericus,  and  some  later  writers,  by  Jahn,  Bibl.  Ar- 
chaol.,  II.  2.  S.  214—217;  Ej.  Appendix  Hermeneut.,  II.  197— 
206;  Ammon,  Bibl.  Theol.  II.  b2iF;  and  Hengstenborg,  Christolo- 
gie  des  A.  T.,  X.  54  ff. 


APPENDIX,  D.  331 

85)  under  the  standard  of  a  good  shepherd  and  king 
whom  God  will  give  them,  (Isa.  11:  1—10.  62:  10,  11. 
Jer.  23:  5,  6.  33:  15,  16.  Ezek.  34:  23,)  whose  kingdom 
is  to  be  divine  and  eternal,  and  to  comprehend  all  na- 
tions, (Dan.  2:  44.  7:  13,  14,  18,)  and  whose  standard 
IS  to  be  planted  like  a  cedar  tree  on  a  high  hill,  under 
which,  even  in  the  shadow  of  its  branches  every  fowl  of 
every  wing  is  to  dwell,  (Ezek.  17:  23.)  Who,  in  examin- 
ing all  these  passages^  and  declarations  of  Scripture  which 
might  easily  be  multiplied,  can  fail  to  discover  a  decided 
belief  expressed,  that  God  had  determined  to  enlighten 
and  animate  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  with  the  light  of 
his  word  ;  that  he  had  already  selected  the  instrument  for 
accomplishing  it ;  and  hence,  that  a  saving  institution  was 
to  be  founded  for  the  good  of  all,  especially  as  prophets 
were  then  from  time  to  time  sent  forth  to  effect  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen  ?* 

The  great  and  splendid  views  of  the  future,  which  were 
laid  open  before  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  in  a 
manner  of  which  we  find  no  example  in  the  religious  his- 
tory of  other  nations,  have  been  considered  as  at  most 
nothing  more  than  predictions,  the  application  of  which 
was  a  secret,  until  the  time  of  their  fulfilment  arrived ; 
and  hence,  of  doubtful  value  as  regards  the  particular  age 
to  which  they  belong.f  This  however  seems  not  to  have 
been  the  case.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  genuine 
and  real  preparations  for  the  kingdom  of  God  which  was 
to  be  established  by  the  Messiah,  and  were  adapted  to  ex- 
ert a  healthful,  moral  and  religious  influence  upon  the 
contemporaries  of  the  prophets  themselves  ;{  we  will  en- 

*  Jesus  must  have  considered  what  is  said  respej3ting  the  mission 
of  Jonah  to  the  Ninevites  and  the  effects  of  his  preaching,  as  genuine 
history ;  for  he  could  not  possibly  have  expected  his  guilty  contem- 
poraries to  receive  a  rebuke  in  the  day  of  judgement  from  fabulous 
persons, — from  a  fable,  Matt.  12:  41. 

t  Ammon,  Bibl.  Theol.  II.  Einleitung,  S.  32. 

t  Some  remarks  are  made  upon  this  subject,  though  it  is  by  no 
means  exhausted,  in  Staudlin's  Gcschichte  der  Sittenlehre  Jesu,  I. 
321—331 ;  and  Hengstenberg's  Christologie,  I.  1.  16—18. 


832  APPENDIX,  D. 

deavor  to  show  mainly  in  what  respects.  And  in  the  first 
place,  predictions  of  the  ultimate  approach  of  a  better, 
more  perfect  and  happier  age,  must  have  awakened  lively 
feelings  of  the  spiritual  misery  of  the  ages  to  which  they 
severally  belonged ;  and  hence,  have  produced  a  clear 
consciousness  of  the  peculiar  guilt  and  corruption  of  the 
nation.  All  the  descriptions  given  of  a  new  generation 
to.be  raised  up  which  should  be  more  righteous,  pious 
and  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God,  were  likewise  so  ma- 
ny testimonies  against  the  living  one,  and  so  many  com- 
plaints of  its  deep  moral  corruption.  Every  internal  and 
external  want  with  which  the  nation  was  oppressed,  was 
thus  made  to  appear  as  the  consequence  of  the  vice  pre- 
valent, while  all  prospect  of  relief  was  founded  upon  the 
coming  of  a  better  generation.  These  ideal  representa- 
tions of  the  splendid  state  of  things  in  prospect,  however, 
were,  at  the  same  time,  earnest  admonitions  for  hasten- 
ing this  period,  and  consequently,  for  striving  after  per- 
fection. Hence,  they  served  as  powerful  excitements  to 
thorough  improvement,  and  must  have  been  productive  of 
so  much  greater  effects  in  this  respect  from  the  positive 
assurance  with  which  they  were  accompanied,  of  its  be- 
ing agreeable  to  the  will  of  God,  and  of  his  directing  all 
things  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  end  ;  for  with  these 
predictions,  the  prophets  actually  connected  exhortations, 
(Isa.  2;  5.  8:  13.  lviii.  Jer.  3:  22.  31:  IS,  22.  Ezek.  16: 
55.)''^  Farther,  these  predictions  must  also  have  served  to 
extend  purer  and  more  honorable  notions  respecting  God. 
They  represented  him  as  the  almighty  and  benevolent 
ruler  of  the  world  ;  who  exercised  care  over  the  heathen 

*  In  regard  to  ail  these  prophetical  testimonies,  in  which  the  pre- 
sent and  the  future  are  so  closely  connected  together,  it  is  important 
to  recollect,  that  in  the  Bible  in  general,  they  are  founded  upon 
the  view  which  considered  the  whole  nation,  the  existing  gen- 
eration together  with  the  future,  as  one  person  ; — a  view  which  has  a 
deep  foundation  and  is  to  be  met  with  in  other-books  than  the  Bible. 
For  the  classics  upon  this  subject,  vid.  Plutarch,  De  sera  Num. 
vindicta,  T.  VIII.  particularly  p.  213—217;  comp.  Wolf,  ad.  De- 
mosth.adv.  Lept.  p.  230;  Storr,  De  Sensu  Hist.  Not.  183,  Op.  Ac.  I. 
75—77. 


APPENDIX,  D.        »  333 

nations  as  well  as  that  of  the  Jews,  and  intended  they  should 
acknowledge  and  worship  him  as  such  ;  and  hence,  by  no 
means  as  a  being  who  had  selected  one  nation  to  be  his 
chosen  people  forever,  but  who,  on  the  other  hand,  might 
choose  others  in  its  stead.  How  directly  opposed  was 
all  this  to  the  inclinations  of  the  Jews  to  consider  them- 
selves as  God's  favorites  to  the  exclusion  of  all  oth- 
ers !  How  much  it  was  calculated  to  humble  their  nation- 
al pride !  How  could  the  willingness  of  the  future  heath- 
en to  yield  obedience  to  the  calls  of  God,  be  laid  before 
,the  obstinate  nation  which  had  rejected  its  ancient,  and 
the 'true  God,  without  exciting  in  it  sensible  emotions 
of  shame!  Isa.  65:  1,  2.  This  was  directly  calculated  to 
subdue  its  inimical  and  haughty  feelings  towards  the 
heathen  and  create  in  it  an  esteem  for  them, — an  esteem 
as  the  future  people  of  God,  and  in  general,  to  teach  it 
to  consider  the  history  of  the  world  in  a  religious  aspect 
and  view  the  hand  of  God  in  every  thing  that  happened  ; 
inasmuch  as  these  prophecies  were  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  other  nations.  If  we  follow  out  this  train  of 
thought  in  respect  to  individuals,  we  shall  find  that  particu- 
lar prophecies  exerted  a  particular  and  especial  influence. 
The  destruction  of  idolatry  announced  by  the  prophets 
with  the  strongest  assurance  as  an  event  which  would 
infallibly  take  place,  exhibited  the  folly  of  those  who 
gave  themselves  up  to  it,  and  was  calculated  to  create  a 
preponderance  in  opposition  to  the  allurements  by  which 
heathenism,  then  clad  in  splendor  and  universally  preva- 
lent, might  have  blinded  the  single  and  weak  nation  of  the 
Jews,  as  well  as  to  animate  true  Israelites  to  remain  faith- 
ful to  their  God,  before  whom  all  were  one  day  to  bend 
the  knee.  The  description  given  of  an  age  in  which  a 
spiritual  worship  of  God  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 
limited  external  worship  then  in  vogue,  and  the  nation  to 
be  guided  by  a  childlike  disposition  and  willing  obe- 
dience instead  of  a  servile  submission  and  the  law  of 
bondage,  was  calculated  to  excite  the  nation  even  then  to 
honor  God  with  something  more  than  sacrificial  services, 


334  APPENDIX,  D. 

and  render  him  the  worship  of  the  heart, — to  elevate  it 
from  the  low  state  in  which  it  then  was,  and  lead  it  to 
strive  after  the  noble  relationship  of  the  children  of 
God.  The  prospect  opened  before  the  separated  tribes 
of  Judah  and  Israel  of  being  ultimately  united  together 
again,  (Isa.  11:  13.  Jer.  3:  18,)  was  an  admonition  for 
ihem  even  then,  to  lay  aside  all  hostility  and  forgive  each 
other.  No  representation,  however,  was  calculated  to 
exert  a  holier  and  more  effectual  influence  upon  the 
contemporaries  of  the  prophets  than  that  given  of  the 
Messiah  himself.  In  him,  the  highest  consolations  were 
presented  to  all,  and  the  grace  of  God  and  forgiveness 
of  sin,  rendered  certain.  The  prophecies  uttered  re- 
specting him,  constituted  as  it  were  a  Gospel  before 
any  had  been  written  by  the  Evangelists.  They  served 
to  mitigate  the  chastising  severities  of  the  law  by  exhibit- 
ing the  soothing  consolations  of  divine  compassion.  When- 
ever the  nation  felt  itself  trodden  down  and  treated  with 
contempt,  a  belief  in  the  promise  of  God  to  send  them  a 
Saviour  by  whom  he  was  to  continue  the  exercise  of  his 
authority  over  them,  was  calculated  to  raise  the  sinking 
courage  of  the  desponding  and  preserve  them  against  to- 
tal degradation  and  despair.  The  representation  given  of 
the  Messiah,  however,  was  also  adapted  to  exert  some- 
times a  correcting,  at  others  an  animating  influence  upon 
individuals.  It  held  up  an  example  to  kings  and  magis- 
trates which  should  have  shone  before  them,  have  reminded 
them  of  their  duty  and  dignity,  have  guarded  them  against 
tyranny  and  injustice,  and  excited  them  to  become  the 
fathers  of  the  nation.  It  exhibited  to  priests  the  sanctity 
of  their  office,  in  the  person  of  the  supreme  and  divine 
Priest,  and  rebuked  them  for  their  unfaithfulness  and 
negligence  in  regard  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
people,  (Ezek.  xxxiv.)  It  furnished  even  the  pro- 
phets with  the  archetype,  which,  in  laying  down  their 
testimony  for  the  truth  and  passing  through  the  sufferings 
incidental  to  their  calling,  they  were  to  strive  to  resemble, 
and  in  short  was  adapted  to  yield  consolation  and  strength 


APPENDIX,  p.  93^ 

to  all  the  pious  who  had  to  struggle,  and  suffer. — I  do 
not  say  that  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  pro- 
duced these  effects  and  impressions  upon  all,  but  that  the 
prophecies  themselves  were  calculated  to  produce  them  ; 
and  if  only  a  kw  made  use  of  these  prophecies  for  this 
purpose,  it  was  because  of  indolence  and  corruption. 
At  all  times,  however,  there  certainly  were  those  who 
read  them  with  a  spirit  of  deep  inquiry,  and  by  this  means 
were  excited  to  out-strip  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 
In  the  very  commencement  of  the  New  Testament  we 
find  mention  of  some  persons  who  were  animated  with 
the  spirit  of  nobler  hopes  respecting  the  Messiah,  (Luke 
1:  74—79.  2:  30—32,  34,  35,  38,)  and  this  fact  renders 
it  so  much  the  more  evident  that  these  prophecies  were 
as  introductory  labor  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

Accordingly  Christ  found  the  idea  of  such  a  universal 
kingdom  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament,^  and  we  know 
also  that  this  fact  was  one  of  great  importance  to  him. 
All  that  he  taught  and  did,  was  in  continuation  of  the  Old 
Testarnent.  His  object  was  to  complete  what  God  had  there 
begun.  The  annunciations  of  the  prophetical  writings  were 
to  him  so  many  divine  hints  to  which  he  accurately  at- 
tended ;  so  many  predictions  of  what  was  absolutely  to  be 
done  to  him  and  by  him.  Hence,  the  most  important 
problem  he  had  to  solve  was  the  initiation  of  his  disciples 
into  that  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  which  referred  ex- 
clusively to  him,  and  thereby  to  furnish  them  with  a  key 
for  rightly  understanding  the  holy  Scriptures  and  obtain- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  unity  of  the  divine  plan  laid  down 

*Hess,  Lehre,  Thaten  und  Schicksale  unsers  Herrn,  II.  171. 
**  Strictly  speaking,  our  Lord  never  formed  a  plan.  The  great  un- 
dertaking which  was  to  be  executed  by  him  and  his  disciples  (or 
rather  by  him  alone,  making  use  of  his  disciples  as  instruments,) 
was  not  one  of  his  projecting,  but  one  which  he  found  already  pro- 
jected in  the  former  course  of  things  and  the  connexion  of  divine  insti- 
tutions and  transactions,  from  the  time  of  Abraham  down  to  his  own 
day.  This  plan  lay  spread  out  before  him  from  its  first  germ  to  its 
final  development  and  consummation.  Having  a  knowledge  of  this 
sublime  plan  and  his  own  destination  to  be  its  executor,  it  was  alto- 
gether improper  and  superfluous  for  him  to  think  of  plans  of  his  own." 


336  APPENDIX,  D. 

in  the  Old  Testament.  That  in  making  use  of  the  Old 
Testament,  Christ  did  not  act  from  the  full  convictions  of  ^ 
his  own  heart,  but  an  endeavor  to  accommodate  himself 
to  the  representations  then  prevalent  and  to  the  feelings  of 
the  nation  in  general,  is  one  of  the  most  groundless  and 
objectionable  opinions  that  have  been  advanced  in  modern 
times.*  Not  to  speak  of  the  impossibility  always  in  the 
way  of  reconciling  such  an  accommodation  with  a  strict 
love  of  the  truth ;  it  may  be  asked,  if  Christ  was  not  seri- 
ous in  everything  that  he  did,  how  he  could  have  evinced 
such  religious  earnestness  in  considering  himself  under  ob- 
ligations to  fulfil  the  Scriptures ;  how  he  could  have  thus 
censured  his  contemporaries  for  neglecting  to  attend  to 
the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures,  (John  5:  39, 46, 47  ;)  how 
he  could  have  taken  such  pains  to  instruct  his  disciples  in 
the  Scriptures ;  and  how  in  his  prayer  to  the  Father, 
(John  17:12,)  he  could  have  gone  so  far  as  to  appeal  to 
the  Scriptures  ?f  The  fact,  however,  that  these  early  an- 
nunciations respecting  the  kingdom  of  God  were  already 
in  existence,  did  not  divest  this  thought  of  its  originality  in 
the  mind  of  Jesus.  There  was  one  source  from  which  it 
flowed  both  in  regard  to  Jesus  and  the  prophets  them- 
selves,— that  of  the  same  divine  spirit.  Jesus  found  him- 
self, found  his  own  spirit  in  the  prophets ;  and  instead  of 
saying  that  Christ  was  indebted  for  his  knowledge,  to  the 
prophets,  we  may  say,  if  we  believe  the  intimations  of  the 
New  Testament  (I  Pet.  1:  11,)  that  the  prophets  were  in- 
debted for  their  illumination  to  the  spirit  of  Christ.  To  all 
this,  however,  it  may  be  added,  that  though  the  prophets, 
speaking  as  the  organs  of  God,  cast  many  remote  glances 
to  this  divine  plan,  yet  none  of  them  ever  conceived  the 


*  Semler,  Von  Untersuchung  des  Canon,  1. 125  ff.  2e  Ausg. 

t  The  view  which  Jesus  took  and  the  manner  in  which  he  made 
use  of  the  Old  Testament,  have  been  accurately  and  completely  ex- 
plained by  Hess,  1.  c.  Abschnitt,  Nr.  VIII ;  Ueber  Verschiednes, 
was  zur  Bildung  seines  Characters  beigetragen,  Th.  II.  S.  81 — 145; 
especially  S.  40  f.  68  f.  of  the  last  edition,  Theil  20e.  of  his  collected 
works.   Comp.  also  Cramer,  Bibliologia  N.  T.  L.' 1819.. 


APPENDIX,  D.  337 

idea  of  carrying  the  plan  itself  into  execution.  This  none 
of  them  could  or  ought  to  have  done,  as  none  of  them  had 
been  called  upon  by  God  for  the  purpose.  Jesus  was 
the  first  one  endowed  with  such  power.  He  not  only 
conceived  the  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God  itself,  but 
brought  it  to  the  realization.  In  him  we  discover  a  clear 
and  decided  resolution  to  perform  this  work  and  actually 
found  a  kingdom  of  God  which  should  embrace  the  whole 
human  family,  as  also  positive  evidence  that  he  was  con- 
scious of  having  received  a  call  from  God  to  this  effect. 
In  this  respect,  he  was  resembled  by  none  of  his  prede- 
cessors. 

III.  Not  even  hyJohn  the  Baptist ;  for  to  him  in  the  last 
place,  have  some  endeavored  to  ascribe  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing formed  the  plan  of  a  kingdom  of  God  before  Jesus. 
"Indeed  it  was  he,"  say  they,  "who  first  led  Jesus  to  think 
of  it ;  for  John  having  been  put  to  death  at  an  early  peri- 
od of  his  labors,  Jesus  completed  the  plan  which  the 
former  had  commenced,  and  then  the  church  was  called 
after  him  ;  so  that  there  is  the  same  relation  between  them 
as  between  Columbus  and  Americus."*  Who  would 
have  rejected  such  honor  as  undeserved,  sooner  than  John, 
whose  chief  ornament  in  the  presence  of  Jesus,  was  deep 
humility  ?  The  whole  supposition  is  nothing  more  than  a 
crude,  fanciful  conceit,  to  prove  which  in  a  clear  and  con- 
vincing manner,  resort  is  had  in  vain  to  genuine  history. 
"  John  came  forward  at  an  earlier  period,  and  was  the 
first  to  announce  the  near  approach  of  the  kingdom  of 
God."  This  was  agreeable  to  his  destination  ;  for  he 
was  sent  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  greater  person  who 
was  to  come  after  him,  and  on  this  very  account  he  can- 
not have  been  what  this  latter  person  was  to  be.  How 
can  this  latter,  more  exalted  character  have  been  first  no- 


*  So  the  anonymous  author  of  the  essay,  Johannes  u.  Jesus ',  in 
Henke's  Neues  Magazin,  VI.  373 — 440.  To  this  place  belongs  the 
first  division  as  far  as  to  p.  411,  and  then  follows  the  second  :  Ueber 
die  Begriffe  vom  Messianischen  Reiehe. 

29 


338  APPENDIX,  D. 

tified  of  his  calling  by  John  ?  The  prophets  made  their 
appearance  at  a  still  earlier  period.  Are  they  therefore 
to  be  considered  as  the  founders  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ? 
The  time  does  not  determine  the  question.  "  But  John 
was  engaged  in  the  same  calling  as  Jesus ;  he  preached 
the  same  kingdom  of  God,  delivered  the  same  serious 
and  sacred  instructions  in  regard  to  duty,  and  exhibited 
similar  zeal  for  the  truth  and  the  thorough  reformation  of 
his  people."  He  preached  the  kingdom  of  God  which  the 
prophets  had  spoken  of  long  before,  as  very  near,  called  Je- 
sus the  founder  of  it,  and  urged  repentance  as  the  only  con- 
dition upon  which  any  one  could  be  admitted  into  this 
kingdom  ;  but  with  the  few  hints  left  us  respecting  John's 
preaching,  by  what  nieans  shall  we  prove  that  his  system 
of  instruction  was  in  every  respect  equal  to  Christ's  ?  To 
do  him  justice,  we  must  acknowledge  his  moral  greatness, 
but  are  we  authorised  to  place  him  on  an  equality  with  Je- 
sus ?  "John's  school  rivalled  that  of  Christ,  and  continued  for 
a  long  time  the  sole  opponent  of  the  Christian  church  ;  a 
fact  which  betrays  a  suspicion  that  John  himself  expected  at 
first  to  lay  claim  to  the  Messiahship,"  (S.  392,  397.)  John 
had  no  school  of  his  own,  nor  did  he  attach  his  disciples  to 
his  name.  He  educated  them  for  the  school  of  Christ, 
and  pointed  them  to  him.  He  had  disciples  indeed  for 
some  time  after  Christ  entered  upon  his  public  career,  but 
never  received  any  censure  from  him  for  it.  The  reason 
is  manifest.  He  was  not  an  enemy  to  the  latter  but  a 
friend,  and  engaged  in  promoting  the  same  cause ;  and 
his  disciples,  on  his  decease,  could  join  Christ's  communi- 
ty. And  that  a  particular  sect  arose  after  his  death  which 
assumed  liis  name  and  exalted  itself  above  Jesus,  is  not  to 
be  charged  upon  him, — foe  he  had  certainly  been  explicit 
enough  in  declaring  that  he  had  no  intention  of  founding 
a  community  of  his  own. 

The  entire  relation  which  existed  between  Jesus  and 
John  as  clearly  laid  down  by  the  Evangelists,  is  directly 
opposed  to  the  gratuitous  hypothesis  in  question.  From 
the  very  commencement,  John,  as  is  evident  from  every 


APPENDIX,  D.  339 


thing  that  he  said  and  did,  kept  one  uniform  purpose  be- 
fore him.     The  calling  to  which  he  was  destined  had  al- 
ready been  pointed  out  to  him  by  the  prophetical  declara- 
tions of  his  father,  with  which  he  was  certainly  acquainted, 
(Luke   1:  76 — 79;)  and  that  he  ever  thought  of  being 
able  to  become  the  Messiah,  is  directly  opposed  to  his  re- 
peated and  most  public  assertions,  (John  1:  20.  Luke  3: 
l6.)He  knew  that  he  was  sent  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
Messiah,  by  exhortation  to  repentance  and  by  pointing 
immediately  to  Jesus,  who  on  being  baptized  was  openly 
manifested  to  him  as  such  ;  and  to  perform  his  commis- 
sion in  this  respect,  was  made  the  business  of  his  whole 
life.     It  was  not  with  "  sadness  and   passionate  feelings," 
(S.  400)  but  with  evident  joy,  (John   3:29,  39)   that  he 
saw  the  increase  of  the  Lord,  and  felt  assured  that  hearts 
would  apply  to  him.     How,  from  the  very  commence- 
ment of  his  career  did  he  humble  himself  before  the  exal- 
ted Jesus,  and  confess  his  own  inferiority  and  unworthiness  ! 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  concede  to  Jesus  an  exclusive- 
ly superhuman  dignity,  a  heavenly  origin,  (John  3:  31  — 
36,)  and  urge  faith  in   him  as  an  indispensable  condition 
of  salvation.     How  could  John  have  done  this  in  an  hon- 
orable manner,  if  he  had   considered  Jesus  as  his  equal, 
and  been  the  very  means  of  first  bringing  him  to  a  con- 
sciousness of  his  calling?     And  then  from  the  unworthy 
accusation  of  the  Fragmentist,  (Fragment  v.  Zweck  Jesu, 
S.  134,  135,)  it  would  seem  as  if  every  thing  that  passed 
between  Jesus  and  John  had  been  the  result  of  agreement 
and   dissimulation  !  Impossible  !     The  strict  veracity  of 
John  compelled  him  not  in  appearance  but  in  reality,  to 
humble  himself  deeply  before  Jesus, — to  humble  himself, 
the  son  of  earth,  before  the  celestial  Son  of  God  !    Not- 
withstanding the  reverence  which  as  Christians,  we  still 
owe  him,  we  must  upon  his  own  testimony  admit,  that 
he  had  not  the  light  and  the  perfect  wisdom,  that  he  could 
not  claim   for  himself  the  holiness  and  purity  which  the 
Lamb  of  God  must  have  possessed,  (John  1:  29  ;)  that  he 
was  destitute  of  the  perfect  spiritual  freedom  which  the  Sa- 
viour exhibited,  (Matt.  9;  14. 1 1: 1 8  seq.)  and  never  permit- 


340  APPENDIX,  D. 

ted  like  him  to  baptize  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  How  is  it 
possible  for  any  one  who  reflects  upon  all  this  difference 
made  by  John  in  person  between  himself  and  Jesus,  to 
think  of  forcing  upon  him  an  honor  which  his  humble 
heart  so  earnestly  strives  to  reject  ?* 

And  finally,  how  shall  the  hypothesis  in  question  be  re- 
conciled with  the  conduct  and  character  of  Jesus  ?  Where 
has  Jesus  uttered  a  single  word  giving  us  to  understand 
that  he  was  indebted  to  John  for  any  thing?  It  is  true  that 
he  presented  himself  to  John  for  baptism.  He  did  so, 
however,  in  order,  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  the  divine  will, 
to  attest  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  especial- 
ly for  the  purpose  of  being  made  known  to  John  as  the 
Messiah.  He  appealed  to  the  testimony  of  John,  but  not 
because  he  needed  it,  but  for  the  sake  of  contemporaries 
(John  5:  34.)  On  the  other  hand,  how  far  above  John 
does  Jesus  represent  himself !  He  recognises  John  only  as 
the  messenger  sent  before  him  to  prepare  his  way,  and 
accordingly,  as  his  servant,  (Matt.  11:  10.;)  and  even 
says  "  He  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater 
than  he,"  v.  1 1 .  Not  that  every  professor  of  Christ  and 
every  herald  of  the  Gospel  excels  John  in  personal  worth. 
This  is  incredible.  But  that  he  who  should  live  and  la- 
bor in  the  kingdom  of  God  when  actually  founded,  would 
be  in  a  more  spiritual  condition ;  inasmuch  as  he  would 
have  more  sources  of  knowledge  and  enjoy  greater  means 
of  grace,  than  John  ;+  whence  we  see  again  what  impor- 

*  In  this  place,  compare  Ammon's  sermon  :  "  John  the  Baptist,  a 
teacher  of  virtue  without  faith  ;"  in  the  Sermons,  Ueber  Jesum  und 
s.  Lehre,  I.  135 — 156  ;  though  it  must  be  allowed  that  he  here  gives 
too  unfavorable  a  representation  of  John  ;  as  Jesus  did  not  consider 
the  question  which  John  proposed  to  him  in  such  a  trying  state  of 
mind  as  every  good  man  has  sometimes  to  encounter,  as  ihe  result 
of  a  complete  surrender  of  faith,  or  even  of  a  hesitancy,  fMatt.  11: 
7,  extr. ;)  for  on  the  other  hand,  he  afterwards  recognised  him  as 
the  true  successor  of  the  ancient  Elias,  (Matt.  17:  12,)  and  one  who 
had  been  obliged  to  encounter  similar  internal  dijSiculties ;  Rom. 
11:2,3. 

t  The  explanation  which  Chrysostom,  Luther,  Zuinglius,'Calovius 
and  the  late  writers,  Menken,  Betrachtungen  Uber  das  Ev.  M.  IL 


APPENDIX,   E.  341 

tance  Jesus  attached  to  himself  and  kingdom,  when 
brought  in  comparison  with  John.  How  could  Jesus  have 
done  so,  had  John  excelled  him  in  any  thing,  and  been 
the  first  to  call- his  attention  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven? 


E.  pp.  89,  252. 

Whether  Jesus  received  his  education  and  his  principles,  from  the 
school  of  the  Essenes. 

Among  all  the  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  de- 
duce the  education  of  Jesus  and  his  principles  from  a 
definite  source,  perhaps  no  one  has  assumed  such  an  ap- 
pearance of  probability  or  tended  more  to  dazzle,  than 
that  to  deduce  them  from  the  Essenes.  Of  this  hypoth- 
esis, of  which  it  seems  proper  here,  in  the  first  place,  to 
give  a  short  literary  history,  Voltaire  and  Frederic  II.  are 
commonly  considered  as  the  authors.*  The  former, 
however,  does  not  state  it  as  his  opinion  but  that  of  some 
learned   men,  that  Jesus  was  an  Essene.f     It  is  highly 

232 ff.;  Fritzsche,  on  this  passage;  and  Fleck,  De  regno  div.  p. 
83,  have  given  of  Matth.  11:  11,  that  by  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  Christ  understood  himself,  does  not  seem  to  be  appropriate. 
One  who  is  in  this  kingdom  is  a  citizen  and  subject  at  the  same 
time,  but  not  the  king  of  the  kingdom.  Christ  in  other  places  calls 
the  members  of  his  kingdom  little ;  Matt.  10:  42.  18:  6.  comp.  Luke 
12:  32.  The  explanation  of  aftcwv  adopted  above,  is  agreeable  to 
the  usages  of  the  language.  Comp.  Slorr,  Ueber  den  Zweck  des 
Johannes,  S.  459  ff.  on  John  XIV,  28.  The  actual  truth  of  the  pas- 
sage was  especially  and  gloriously  confirmed  by  the  apostles,  as  they 
accomplished  more  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  than  John  was  able 
to  do. 

*  Aramon  has  alluded  to  this  in  the  Bibl.  Theologie,  II.  300,  and 
his  allusions  in  this  case,  as  in  others,  have  passed  over  into  sev- 
eral works. 

t  In  the  Dictionaire  Philosophique,  sub  v.  Esseniens,  Oeuvres  des 
Deuxp.  T.  57.  p.  229.  "  Quelques  savans  ont  cr6,  que  J.  C.  etait 
un  de  ces  Esseniens,  qui  fuyaient  le  tumulte  des  affaires  et  qui  cul- 
tivaient  en  paix  la  vertu." 

29* 


342  APPENDIX,    E. 

probable  that  Voltaire  received  it  from  England  as  he 
did  most  of  his  Rationalistic  wisdom.  That  the  Deists  of 
this  country,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  18th  cen- 
tury, maintained  Christianity  to  have  had  its  origin  among 
the  Essenes,  is  shown  by  Prideaux.*  Indeed  there  are 
allusions  to  this  fact  in  Bohngbroke,f  from  whose  works 
and  oral  communications  Voltaire  appropriated  so  much 
to  himself.  At  the  same  time,  however,  if  not  still  earli- 
er, John  George  Wachter  a  German  scholar,  distinguish- 
ed for  his  various  acquisitions,  but  somewhat  notorious  al- 
so for  his  paradoxies,  attempted,  in  an  investigation  insti- 
tuted for  the  express  purpose,  to  represent  Essenism  as 
the  source  of  Christianity.  The  work  upon  the  subject 
which  belongs  to  this  place,  De  Primordiis  Christianae 
Religionis  libri  duo :  quorum  prior  agit  de  Essaeis, 
Christianorum  inchoatoribus,  alter  De  Christianis  Essae- 
orum  Posteris,  is  extant  indeed  only  in  manuscript ;  but 
Brucker  has  given  a  sufficient  description  of  it  accom- 
panied with  an  abstract. {     This  same  opinion  is  ascribed 

*  In  the  Connexion,  II.  449,  German  transl.  by  Titel.  [Eng.  ed. 
Lend.,  1808,  Vol.  III.  p.  429  seqq.     Tr.] 

t  The  Philosophical  Works,  II,  310,  of  the  quarto  ed.  He  finds 
much  as  he  supposes  of  an  Essene  character,  especially  in  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  mount. 

X  In  the  6th  or  supplementary  volume  of  the  Hist.  Crit.  Philos. 
p.  445—452.  Wachter  lived  from  1673  to  1757,  at  last,  in  Leipzig, 
and  received  a  considerable  pension  from  the  Leipzig  magistrate, 
in  whose  library  under  Wachter's  Manuscripts,  the  above  is  proba- 
bly to  be  found.  A  copy  of  this  work  belong^s  to  that  part  of  the 
university  library  formerly  in  this  place  [Wittem.]  which  bears  the 
name  of  Von  Ponickau,  and  it  agrees  in  every  respect  with  Bruck- 
er's  description.  It  consists  of  84  tolerably  closely  written  quarto 
pages,  and  contains  almost  every  thing  that  has  lately  been  said  in 
support  of  the  hypothesis  in  question.  Wachter,  however,  in  what  he 
says,  does  by  no  means  intend  to  encroach  upon  the  divine  authority 
of  Jesus.  His  words,  §  29,  "  An  lesus  fuerit  Essaeus,aut  moribus  et 
doctrina  Essaeorum  institutus .''"  p.  39,  MS.  Witt.,  are  as  follows  : 
"  Constat,  lesum  pro  aetate  sapientia  et  doctrina  profecisse,  Luc. 
2:  52,  ut  sclent  omnes  prophetae  in  pueritia  1  Sam.  2:  26.  Et  tamet- 
si  hoc  nuspiam  scriptum  esset,  omnes  tamen  intelligerent,  Divinita- 
tem  non  impertire  dotes  suas  humanaQ  naturae  simul  et  semel,  sed 
praeceptoribus  et  exemplis  ad  nos  formandos  uti.  Hoc  ergo  sup- 
posito  inquirendum  nunc  est,  cuius  Sectae  discipulus  fuerit  lesus  ? 


OF  THS 
APPENDIX,   E.  X^Kf     ^    ^?         . 

to  the  Jesuits  ;*  and  it  has  also  been  defended  oy^Tn^niy--'^^'^'^ 
Free-masons  in  connexion  with  the  supposition  that  their 

Fuerunt  autem  circa  tempora  lesu  quatuor  tantum  in  universa  lu- 
daea  docentium  et  discentium  scholae ;  Pharisaeorum,  Sadducae- 
orum,  Essaeorunij  et  Sicariorum.  De  prima  aut  secunda  lesum 
fuisse,  nemo,  opinor,  dixerit.  Nam  Pharisaeos  et  Saducaeos,  eorum- 
que  mores,  dogmata  et  instituta,  lesum  palam  damnavit.  De  pos- 
trema  idem  sentiendum.  Nam  Caesarem  lesus  agnovit,  eidemque 
tanquam  Domino  obedientiam  et  censum  praestandum  dixit.  Matt. 
22:  21.  Restat  ergo,  ut  fuerit  de  Schola  Essaeorum,  quia  de  aliqua 
ilium  schola  fuisse  necesse  est.  Et  decebat  sane  Servatorem  mundi 
optimos  et  sapientissimos  gentis  suae  viros  habuisse  praceptores, 
quales  omnino  erant  Essaei,"  On  another  page,  however,  in-the 
Conclusio  Operis,  §  54,  p.  83s.  MS.,  it  is  said  again  :  "  Ex  antece- 
dentibus  manifestum  est,  Christianam  Religionem  non  subito  aut 
improviso  venisse  in  mundum,  ut  Palladium  aut  Ancile  de  caelo 
lapsum,  sicut  vulgus  hominum  existimat :  sed  omnino  per  causas 
secundas  a  divina  providentia  e  longinquo  praeparatas,  paulatim  ad  ■  \ 

res  humanas  demissam  esse,  adeo,  ut  origo  eius  et  progressus  sciri 
et  cognosci  possit.  Nos  enim,  si  verum  dicere  fas  est,  ludaica 
Secta  sumus,  nee  aliunde  quam  ex  celebri  Essaeorum  ordine 
oriundi.  Hi  sunt  illi  pauperes,  quibus  Evangelium  primum  an- 
nunciatum  est.  Luc.  7:  22.  Matt.  11:  6.  Ab  his  ad  primitives 
Christianos  promanavit  ComTnunio  honorum^  abstinentia  a  militia, 
sacramentum  religionis,  jejunia,  nodes  feriatae,  hymni,  preces  ad 
orientem,  hierarchia  et  cultus  angelorum,  disciplina  ecclesiastical 
monachismus,  et  universus,  sc.  sacram  interpretandi  modus  alle- 
goricus.  Quae  cum  ita  sint,  perspicuum  est,  Essaeos  Christianorum 
inchoatores,  et  Christianos  Essaeorum  posteros  esse.  Hue  procul 
dubio  digitum  intendit  Lactantius  dum,  1.  V.  c.  23,  ait :  Nos  Chris- 
tianos ludaeorum  successores  et  posteros  esse.  Quorum  autem  ludae- 
orura .''  Certe  non  Pharisaeorum  aut  Saducaeorum.  Quid  enim 
Christian©  geueri  cum  illis  commune?  Igitur  Essaeorum.  Quod 
suscepimus  demonstrandum."  In  the  conclusion  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing remarks  :  "  Hunc  tractatum  fecit  an.  1713,  refecit  1716,  tan- 
demque  multis  accessionibus  auctum  in  presentem  ordinem  digessit 
an.  1717,  I,  G.  W."  From  the  words  quoted,  it  will  be  infer- 
red, that  Wachter  has  taken  up  with  many  things  in  his  proof 
vrhich  are  altogether  untenable,  and  some  of  these  have  already  been 
censured  by  Brucker ;  as  for  instance,  (§  27,  p.  37,  MS.)  that  those 
pronounced  righteous  in  the  New  Testament,  Matt.  10:  41,  were 
Essenes  ;  as  Joseph,  Matt.  1:  19;  Simeon,  Luke  2:25;  Joseph, 
Acts  1:  23  ; — that  the  icay  of  righteousness,  Matt.  21:  32,  means  the 
sect  of  the  Essenes,  and  others.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  he 
has  omitted  nothing,  which  goes  to  show  that  there  is  a  resemblance 
between  Essenism  and  Christianity. 

*  Frh.  von  Wedekind,  Der   pythagor.  Orden,  die  obscurantenver- 
cine  und   die  Fr.  Maurerei,  L.   1820,  S.  104,  says  :  "  Every  Friday- 
!       afternoon  the  Jesuits  held  secret  chapters  and  attended  to  the  culti- 


344  APPENDIX,    E. 

order  likewise  sprung  from  the  Essenes.^  Not  to  men- 
tion other  writers  of  less  importance,t  however,  it  may  be 
added  that  this  opinion  has  found  its  most  skilful  advo- 
cate in  Staudlin,  who,  (Geschichte  der  Sittenlehre  Jesu, 
I.  570 — 582,)  declares  it  probable,  "  that  Jesus  spent  his 
childhood  among  the  Esseues  and  received  his  education 
and  instruction  from  them  until  he  became  a  young  man  ; 
and  then  was  pitched  upon  by  the  order  to  effect  a  great 
moral  revolution  and  sent  forth  upon  the  execution  of  the 
commission."  There  are  so  many  weighty  arguments, 
however,  to  be  brought  forward  in  opposition  to  this  opin- 
ion that  it  can  hardly  be  looked  upon  by  any  one  as  ten- 
able.f  As  Reinhard  has  said  but  little  about  it,  though 
very  excellent,  I  shall  here  give  a  condensed  survey  of 
the  considerations  by  which  it  is  opposed. 

vation  of  their  esoteric  doctrines,  as  to  which  they  are  said  (as  I 
think  I  know  from  good  authority,)  to  consider  themselves  as  the 
successors  of  the  Essenes,  from  which  sect  they  believe  that  Christ 
received  his  education,  having  been  formed  by  it  for  the  express 
purpose  of  the  order  (the  Essenes  and  afterwards  the  Jesuits.") 

*  Ragotzky,  Der  Freidenker  in  der  Maurerei,  Berlin,  1793,  S. 
183—192;  Cothner,  Taschenbuch  far  Fr.  Maurerei,  1800,  S.  219— 
228;  comp.  Lenning,  Encyclopadie  der  F.  M.,  Art.  Essenes,  I.  162 
— ~i  Jt). 

t  Riem,  Christus  u.  die  Vernunft,  S.  C68— 706;"  Richter,  Das 
Christenthum  u.  die  altesten  Religionen  des  Orients,  S.  243  ff.; 
Der  Zweck  Jesu  geschichtlich  und  seelkundlich  dargestellt,  S.  45 
—47.  64. 

t  This  opinion  has  been  contested  since  Loderwald  by  Bengel, 
Flatt's  Magazin,  VII.  126—180  ;  Amraon,  Religiose  Moral,  Gottin- 
gen,  1800,  S.  72  f  ;  Bibl.  Theol.  II.  300  ff. ;  Thiess,  N.  Krit.  Kom- 
mentar,  II.  408 ;  Eelkonis  Tinguae,  Oratio  de  I.  C.  doctore  -S^todi- 
day.rui,  minime  Esseno,  Greening.,  1805 ;  Von  Meyer's  Ehrenfrieds 
Lehrabende,  Erste  Fortsetz.,  Frankf.,  1808,  1—104 ;  "  Jesus  self- 
taught;"  Bandelin,  Ueber  die  Bildung  des  grossen  Propheten  von 
Nazareth  zum  ersten  Religionslehrer  auf  Gottes  Erde,  Lub.,  1809; 
Planck,  Geschichte  des  Christenthums  in  d.  Periode  s.  ersten  Ein- 
fahrung,  I.  57 — 67.  Among  Masons,  Morlin  has  opposed  it  in  the 
well  written  letters,  Ueber  den  Bund  der  EssSer,  im  Altenburgs. 
Journ.  f.  Freimaurerei,  B.  II.  Heft  1  and  2,  of  which  the  two  last  let- 
ters belong  to  this  place  ;  extracts  from  which  are  to  be  found  in  Len- 
ning's  Encyclopadie,  I.  186 — 193,  and  Fichte's  Anweisung  zum  se- 
ligenLeben,  S.  347  f. 


APPENDIX,  E.  345 

I.  The  proofs  in  favor  of  this  hypothesis  are  unsatis- 
factory. "  It  is  thought  to  afford  a  satisfactory  explanation 
of  the  disappearance  of  Jesus  from  the  page  of  history 
between  the  12th  year  and  30th  of  his  life."  The  si- 
lence of  the  Evangelists  respecting  this  period  of  Christ's 
life  can  be  explained  without  any  such  hypothesis.  Their 
principal  object  was  to  develop  that  part  of  Christ's  pub- 
lic life  in  which  he  appeared  and  acted  as  a  Saviour,  and 
not  to  write  annals,  there  being  nothing  which  required 
them  to  do  so.  Besides,  during  this  period,  he  lived  in 
obscurity  away  from  the  view  of  the  world,  without  rashly 
making  himself  public.  How  can  it  seem  strange  to  us 
that  the  Evangelists  have  said  nothing  of  these  years  ? 
Admit  that  Jesus  did  not  spend  them  in  Nazareth,  we 
have  as  much  right  to  suppose  that  he  grew  up  in  some 
other  favorite  place.  "  Even  Eusebius  (Hist.  Eccl.  II. 
17,)  considers  the  Therapeutae  as  Christians ;  a  fact 
which  betrays  the  great  similarity  which  existed  between 
the  Essenes  and  Christians."  Not  between  them  and 
Christians  in  their  original  simplicity,  but  the  later  Chris- 
tian ascetics  and  monks.  The  marks  which  Philo  found 
among  the  Therapeutae  were  not  those  of  the  Christian 
faith,  but  the  Jewish.*  Eusebius  was  seduced  by  his 
anxiety  to  find  early  traces  of  Christianity,  to  discover 
them  in  a  place  to  which  it  could  scarcely  have  been 
extended  at  the  time  when  Philo  wrote.  "  Jesus  opposed 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  but  never  said  a  word  against 
the  Essenes.  They  are  never  mentioned  by  way  of  censure 
in  the  New  Testament.  May  not  Jesus  himself  have  belong- 
ed to  this  sect  ?"  Jesus  belonged  to  no  sect.  He  was  exalt- 
ed above  all  sectarian  distinctions.  He  never  spoke  in  di- 
rect terms  against  the  Essenes  because  no  occasion  pce- 
sented  for  him  to  do  so.     In  the  cities,  markets,  syna- 


*  Schrockh,  K.  G.  II.  103.  [Comp.  Prideaux's  Connexion',  Vol. 
III.  p.  427.  '•  The  words  of  Philo,"  says  he,  which  are  quoted  at 
large  in  some  preceding  sections,  "manifestly  prowe, first,  that  these 
Therapeutae  could  not  be  Christians,  and  secondly,  that  they  were 
most  certainly  Jews."    Tr.] 


346  APPENDIX,  E. 

gogues,  and  the  temple,  where  he  taught,  there  were  no 
Essenes  to  be  met  with.  They  never  rose  up  in  hostihty 
against  him.  In  this  respect  his  words,  "  He  that  is  not 
against  us  is  for  us,"  Luke  9:  50,  may  be  considered  as 
true  of  them.  "  Essenism  and  Christianity  bear  a  great 
resemblance  to  each  other.  Both  are  moral  religious 
fraternities."  Of  very  different  kinds,  however ;  and 
there  was  a  church  even  in  the  Old  Testament.  "  In 
both  a  community  of  goods  was  introduced."  Not  in  the 
church  universally,  but  only  among  Christians  in  the 
church  at  Jerusalem,  and  there,  as  a  voluntary  thing  for 
temporary  and  local  reasons,  and  not  because  it  was  en- 
joined by  any  command  from  Christ  or  his  apostles,  or 
any  law  of  general  obligation  ;  whereas  the  Essenes  made 
the  renunciation  of  all  property  an  indispensable  condi- 
tion of  admission  into  their  fraternity.  In  all  other 
churches  each  one  retained  his  own  property,  with  refer- 
ence to  which,  many  directions  are  given,  and  on  the  uni- 
versal extension  of  Christianity,  every  thing  like  a  com- 
munity of  goods  immediately  ceased.  "The  regulations 
of  both  fraternities  respecting  the  worship  of  God  are 
very  much  alike."  The  resemblance  springs  from  a 
common  source,  the  synagogue,  the  regulations  of  which, 
Christians,  who  had  received  no  liturgical  precepts  from 
Jesus,  were  at  liberty  to  imitate  so  far  as  appropriate  to 
their  purpose.  "  Many  of  their  moral  principles  agree  ; 
as  for  instance,  those  of  love  to  God  and  one's  neighbour, 
of  fraternal  equality,  of  oaths,  and  of  celibacy."  They 
are  either  contained  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  first  for 
instance,  or  else  they  are  quite  dissimilar.  Among  the 
Essenes  there  were  four  orders  of  different  degrees,  be- 
tween which  there  was  such  a  distance,  that  one  of  a 
higher  class  considered  himself  as  defiled  if  touched  by 
one  of  a  lower  class,  and  washed  himself  as  if  he  had 
rendered  himself  common  by  associating  with  a  total 
stranger,  (Josephus,  De  Bell.  lud.  II.  8:  10.)  The  oath 
in  Christianity  is  disapproved  of,  but  not  absolutely  forbid- 
den. The  Essenes,  on  the  other  hand,  required  those 
who  were  to  be  initiated  into  their  fraternity,  to  take  a 


APPENDIX,    E.  347 

horrible  oath.  The  regulations  also  of  the  Christian  church 
respecting  marriage  are  unlike  those  of  the  Essenes,  for 
the  former  do  by  no  means  absolutely  enjoin  a  state  of  cel- 
ibacy ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  exhibit  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  in  a  religious  point  of  view. 

II.  There  is  an  essential  difference  between  Essenism 
and  Christianity.  The  spirit  of  Christianity  is  pure, 
free,  and  painfully  confined  down  to  no  narrow  forms,  k 
leaves  each  individual  to  make  choice  of  his  own  external 
exercises  and  urges  upon  him  nothing  more  than  internal 
sanctity  of  heart.  Essenism  was  slavishly  confined  to 
stated  forms.  It  produced  a  kind  of  monkish  piety  and 
debased  the  mind.  "  Its  pupils  in  their  dress  and  the 
management  of  their  bodies,  resembled  children  who  act 
under  the  influence  of  a  fear  of  their  masters,"  (Jose- 
phus,  De  B.  I.  IT.  8.  4.)  The  Sabbath  was  observed  with 
more  than  Pharisaical  punctiliousness,  washing  before 
meals  was  most  strictly  attended  to,  and  anointing  with 
oil  and  the  use  of  wine  was  prohibited  under  severe 
penahies.  How  far  is  Christianity  elevated  above  these 
merely  external  exercises  !  Christ  explains  the  command 
respecting  the  Sabbath  as  subordinate  to  higher  purposes, 
permits  innocent  enjoyments,  and  makes  devotion  subser- 
vient to  the  promotion  of  a  happy  spirit.  Essenism  in 
regard  to  its  entire  form  and  institutions  is  nothing  but 
Separatism.  It  draws  its  followers  away  from  the  world, 
forbids  the  extension  of  the  secret  principles  of  the  or- 
der and  makes  virtue  the  property  of  a  few  initiated  per- 
sons. Christianity  extends  infinitely  heyond  the  bounda- 
ries of  this  narrow  horizon  and  is  in  every  respect  of  a 
universal  character.  It  directs  its  followers  while  in  the 
world  to  act  for  the  world,  requires  them  to  preach  the 
truth  as  the  common  property  of  mankind,  upon  the 
house-tops,  and  aims  as  far  as  possible  at  connecting  all 
together  for  the  purpose  of  mutually  improving  the  heart. 
Essenism  was  the  affair  of  an  order,  which  contracted 
the  heart ;  Christianity  is  an  affair  of  mankind  and  it  en- 
larges the  heart.     There  is  a  difference  also  between  the 


348  APPENDIX,    E. 

two  in  regard  to  single  doctrines,  as  the  Essenes  admit, 
the  doctrine  of  a  fate  by  which  the  destinies  of  all  are 
predetermined,  thus  opposing  the  idea  of  human  freedom, 
and  also  admit  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  deny  the 
resurrection  of  the  body. 

III.  There  are  many  historical  circumstances  directly 
opposed  to  the  hypothesis  in  question.  Not  one  of  the 
jancient  writers  who  speak  of  Christ  and  of  Christians, 
reckons  them  among  the  Essenes.  Josephus,  who  had 
acquired  his  information  of  the  latter  not  from  foreign  ac- 
counts but  from  actual  experience,  having  been  through  their 
school  as  also  those  of  the  other  sects,  (De  vita  sua,  c.  2,) 
would  certainly  have  known  it,  had  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity which  was  then  well  known  and  very  extensively 
spread  abroad,  been  educated  in  this  school.  Would  he 
both  in  his  description  of  the  sects,  and  in  his  account  of 
Jesus  and  of  John,  (whom  we  must  then  also  consider 
as  an  Essene)  have  altogether  passed  over  this  circum- 
stance ?  Would  he  not,  on  the  other  hand,  have  ob- 
served that  the  Christian  party  originated  with  the  Es- 
senes ?  If  this,  however,  was  the  case,  and  Jesus  labored 
only  for  the  cause  of  the  Essenes,  how  comes  it  to  pass, 
that  they  took  no  interest  in  his  cause  ?  That  they  did 
not  pass  over  to  the  church  of  Jesus  in  which  they 
saw  the  sublime  object  so  vigorously  advanced  ?  In- 
stead of  doing  so,  they  continued  a  distinct  sect  until 
the  total  destruction  of  their  native  country,  when  their 
society  was  probably  dissolved.  Some  individuals  of 
them  may  have  been  admitted  into  the  Christian  church, 
but  it  is  evident  that  Paul  must  have  guarded  against  the 
errors  thus  introduced.  Had  Christ  himself  been  an  in- 
strument of  the  Essenes,  he  would  in  all  probability  have 
had  such  persons  for  assistants  as  agreed  with  him  in  prin- 
ciples. He  chose  none,  however,  from  among  the  Es- 
senes. The  persons  whom  he  chose  for  his  apostles  and  by 
whom  without  any  support  from  others,  the  Gospel  was 
to  be  spread,  were  ignorant  Galileans  and  evidently  did  not 
belong  to  the  school  of  the  Essenes.     How  can  it  be  ac- 


APPENDIX,    E.  349 


counted  for  that  the  apostles  never  give  the  least  intima-^ 
lion  of  Christ's  having  been  connected  with  the  Essenes  ? 
Is  it  supposable  that  they  have  designedly  passed  over  the 
thing  in  silence,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  for  their 
Lord  the  honor  of  a  higher  education  and  a  superior  mes- 
sage ?  They  were  too  unskilful  and  too  honest  to  descend 
to  such  a  crafty  measure.  And  would  they  have  been 
totally  ignorant  of  any  thing  of  the  kind  ?  when  we  con- 
sider how  familiarly  they  lived  with  Jesus,  and  how  well 
acquainted  they  were  with  his  most  intimate  associates, 
such  a  supposition  becomes  incredible.  Their  silence  at 
least  affords  room  for  a  doubt  respecting  the  hypothesis 
in  question.  But  farther  :  They  indirectly  contradict  it, 
as  they  tell  us  that  Jesus  spent  the  years  of  his  life  before  he 
made  his  appearance  in  public,  in  no  other  place  than  at 
Nazareth,  where  he  was  brought  up,  (Luke  14: 16;)  a 
place,  (Matt.  4:  13,  cbmp.  2:  23,)  which  he  did  not  leave 
until  he  entered  upon  his  ministry.  The  inhabitants  of  Naz- 
areth knew  him  well  as  their  countryman,  (Matt.  13:  54 — 
57.  Luke  4:  22 — 24.  John  6:  42,)  and  were  ignorant  of 
his  ever  having  been  absent  for  a  long  time  in  some*  educa- 
tional institution.  On  the  other  hand,  they  asserted  with 
great  positiveness  that  he  had  not  studied  in  any  human 
school,  (John?:  15,)  and,  on  that  very  account,  were  aston- 
ished at  his  wisdom  and  oratorical  powers.  Had  Jesus  been 
in  a  school  a  long  time  for  the  purpose  of  attending  to  this 
kind  of  learning,  the  inhabitants  of  Nazareth,  particularly  his 
relatives,  would  certainly  have  known  it.  He  would  not 
have  struck  them  as  being  so  humble  a  character  nor 
have  appeared  to  them  so  much  like  an  equal.  His  edu- 
cation would  no  longer  have  remained  to  them  a  mystery.* 
That  the  Jews  in  general,  particularly  those  in  Jerusalem, 
did  not  look  upon  him  as  an  Essene,  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  Jesus  was  never  interdicted  from  entering  the 


*  Well  worth  reading  upon  this  subject,  is  Reinhard's  sermon, 
entitled,  "  A  glance  at  the  domestic  life  of  Jesus,"  1802, 1.Nr.  ^, 
upon  John  2:  1 — 11, 

30 


350  APPENDIX,  E. 

;^temple,  whereas  Josephus  says,  (Archaeol.  XVIII.  L 
5,)  that  the  Essenes  were  excluded  from  the  common 
court  of  the  temple. 

IV.  To  these  historical  reasons  may  be  added  a  reason 
decidedly  moral.  The  hypothesis  in  question  is  directly 
opposed  to  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  Jesus  had  re- 
ceived his  wisdom,  and  an  idea  of  his  great  work  from  a 
man  or  from  a  human  institution,  gratitude  and  veracity 
would  have  required  him  to  make  it  known.  Instead 
of  doing  so,  Jesus  denies  that  his  work  had  any  human  or- 
igin, and  admits  the  agency  of  no  one  in  the  business  but 
his  heavenly  Father,  upon  whose  commission  alone  he 
acted.*  He  therefore  who,  notwithstanding  all  this,  con- 
jectures that  Jesus  received  his  education  arid  his  call  from 
a  human  source,  must  bring  his  love  of  veracity  in  ques- 
tion and  throw  an  obscurity  over  his  character.  He  who 
goes  thus  to  work,  does  no  service  "to  mankind  or  the 
public  authority  of  religion. f  The  purity  and  upright- 
ness of  Jesus,  therefore,  constrain  us  absolutely  to  reject 
an  opinion  with  which  they  cannot  be  reconciled. J 

*  Classical  upon  this  subject  is  the  sufficiently  regarded  and  irrefu- 
table work  of  SUsskind  :  "  In  what  sense  did  Jesus  maintain  the  di- 
vinity of  his  moral  and  religious  doctrines  ?"  (In  welchem  Sinne 
hat  Jesus  die  Gottlichkeit  s.  Religions-u.  Sittenlehre  behauptet  ?) 
Tub.,  1802.  With  this  Gelbke  seems  not  to  be  acquainted  in  the  work : 
Jesus  von  sich,  ein  Beitrag  zur  StSrkung  des  Glaubens  an  ihn,L, 
1829,  the  first  division  of  which  from  p.  8  to  37,  belongs  to  this 
place  ;  though  in  respect  to  fundamental  exegesis,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  supply  its  defects  out  of  SUsskind. 

f  Morlin  at  the  place  quoted.  "  An  acute  genius  by  resorting  to 
fiction  and  availing  himself  of  the  aid  of  such  an  hypothesis,  might 
indeed  clear  up  much  that  is  obscure  in  the  history  of  Jesus  and  his 
apostles,  but  by  so  doing,  he  would  I  fear  veil  the  character  of  Jesus 
with  a  thick  shadow, — that  very  point  from  which  light  and  life 
stream  forth  upon  the  whole.  Jesus  forbade  his  disciples  from 
having  any  thing  to  do  with  mysterious  institutions  and  even  declar- 
ed, John  18:  19 — 21,  that  he  himself  had  never  done  his  work  in  se- 
cret corners.  The  history  of  the  world  becomes  vastly  poorer  if  di- 
vested of  the  purity  and  integrity  of  this  worthy  character." 

t  Fichte  at  the  place  quoted,*  "  Jesus  did  not  receive  his  doctrines 
from  external  sources, — from  tradition  ;  for  from  the  truly  exalted 
frankness  and  integrity  by  which  his  words  and  actions  were  always  di«- 


APPENDIX,    F.  351 


F. 


A  critical  examination  of  the  objections  which  have  been  made  to 
the  legitimacy  of  Reinhard's  conclusion. 

I.  The  present  work  of  Reinhard  is  distinguished  to  a  high 
degree  for  clearness,  lucid  order,  and  a  logical  connexion  ; 
excellencies  which  all  his  works  possess.  The  plan  of  it 
is  simple  and  to  be  looked  through  at  a  glance.*  "  Jesus 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  God, — he  alone,  no 
one  had  done  it  before  him  ; — he  conceived  this  idea,  a 
thing  which  presupposes  the  highest  cuhivation  of  the  in- 
tellect and  heart,  and  did  it  under  circumstances  which 
will  not  account  for  the  perfection  to  which  he  attained  in 
this  respect ;  and  therefore,  he  must  have  been  prepared  in 
an  extraordinary  manner  and  destined  by  God  for  this  ex- 
press purpose."  This  is  the  train  of  thought,  and  it  is  so 
clearly  developed  and  so  closely  connected,  that  it  cannot 
easily  fail  to  produce  its  effect  upon  the  reader.  The  con- 
clusion drawn  from  the  preceding  considerations,  however, 
has  been  subjected  to  different  attacks.  Offence  has,  in 
the  first  place,  been  taken  at  the  position,  that  Jesus  himself 
devised  apian.  "  It  is  fundamentally  wrong,"  says  Kleu- 
ker,f  "  to  consider  Christ  as  having  done  what  he  did  upon 
earth  by  way  of  executing  a  plan  which  he  himself  devis- 
ed. He  undertook  nothing  but  the  execution  of  a  divine 
plan,  which  had  been  devised  and  definitely  fixed  before 

tinguished  it  is  evident,  that  in  this  case,  he  would  have  told  of  it,  and 
pointed  his  own  disciples  to  these  same  sources, — in  saying  which  to 
my  reader,  I  suppose  him  by  his  own  relationship  to  such  virtue 
and  a  deep  study  of  the  biography  of.  Jesus,  to  have  obtained  a  clear 
comprehension  of  the  integrity  which  he  possessed." 

*  According  to  Bottiger's  Zeichnung  von  Reinhard,  S.  33,  comp. 
51,  Note  46,  no  one  has  more  finely  apprehended  or  more  correctly 
estimated  Reinhard's  plan  than  Blessig,  Sur  1'  influence  de  la  relig. 
protest. — Sermon  de  R. — avec  une  notice  sur  Reinhard,  Strasb,, 
1808,  p.  50—55. 

t  Johannes,  Petrus  und  Paulus  als  Christologen,  S.  109—111. 


352  APPENDIX,  F 

the  foundation  of  the  world.  It  is  as  the  performer  of 
the  great  work  for  the  completion  of  which  he  had  been 
endowed  with  full  power  by  the  will  of  his  heavenly  father, 
and  not  as  a  plan-deviser  that  he  merits  the  confidence  of 
mankind  in  life  and  in  death."  Such  also  was  the  opin- 
ion of  J.  A.  Weise,*  of  an  anonymous  writer  to  every  par- 
ticular,f  and  finally  of  the  worthy  veteran,  Bishop  J. 
Michael  von  Sailer  :  J  "  The  expression,  Jesus  devised  an 
all-comprehensive  plan,  has  a  signification  which  not  only 
contradicts  the  testimony  of  history,  but  most  directly  de- 
tracts from  the  impression  that  we  have  of  divinity ; 
for  Jesus  constantly  affirms  that  the  plan  the  execution  of 
which  he  had  before  him  was  not  his,  but  his  Father's,  by 
whose  decision  he  had  been  set  at  work,  and  under  whose 
commission  he  was  laboring."  These  objections  however, 
appear  to  have  originated  in  misapprehension,  and  may 

*  Christeuthum  auf  Geschichte  fest  gegrUndet,  Gera,  1788,  Vorr. 
S,  XVIII.  f.  "  Indeed  Ernesti  speaks  of  imputing  the  formation  of 
plans  and  engaging  in  projects,  to  the  blessed  God,  with  censure,  and 
often  with  aversion  ;  as  God  forms  determinations,  and  resolves  upon 
the  happiness  of  mankind,  but  never  projects  plans  as  men  do.  Nor 
more  did  Jesus  as  the  founder  of  Christianity  meddle  with  plans  dur- 
ing his  sojourn  on  earth.  To  seek  for  the  divinity  of  Christianity 
in  a  plan  the  invention  and  execution  of  which  appear  to  excel  the 
possibility  of  all  human  wisdom,  leads  to  pure  delusion  and  decep- 
tion. To  do  so,  is  plausibly  to  deceive  and  delude,  and  it  can  easily 
be  shown  that  Reinhard  in  his  plan  deceives  both  himself  and  others 
without  intending  to  do  so." 

t  Alternative  Ober  das  Resultat  der  Reinh.  Schrift,  in  Augusti's 
Theolog.  Monathsschrift,  1801,  St.  1.  S.  40—51.  "  Jesus  never 
spoke  of  the  plan  as  his,  but  only  as  his  Father's.  This  is  evident 
from  all  the  Evangelists,  especially  from  John.  He  who  denies  it, 
must  deny  all  the  historical  credibility  of  these  men  and  exalt  Je- 
sus at  the  expense  of  truth.  By  this  means,  many  a  hot-headed  genius 
may  be  impelled  on  to  similar  undertakings,  and  in  the  deficiency 
of  his  own  powers  call  on  God  in  vain  for  assistance,  having  alto- 
gether mistaken  his  duty." 

t  In  his  excellent  work  :  Grundlehren  der  Religion,  Iste  A.  MOn- 
chen,  1805,  S.  209— 212,  in  the  2n  A.  1814,  S.  278— 282;  Jacobi  in 
his  Briefwechsel,  II.  459,  considers  this  book  "  as  the  best  of  this 
distinguished  man's  productions  and  in  general  one  of  the  best  in  the 
German  language."  Comp.  also  the  same,  S.  54,  the  opinion  ex- 
pressed respecting  Sailer's  Glttckseligkeitslehre. 


APPENDIX,    F.  353 

easily  be  explained  away ;  for  the  object  that  Reinhard 
had  in  view,  was  to  show,  that  the  plan  which  we  find  with 
Jesus  was  not  the  work  of  a  man  but  of  God  ;  and  that, 
as  Jesus  had  been  raised  up  and  educated  by  God  for  the 
express  purpose  of  its  execution,  he  must  have  possessed 
the  highest  authority  as  a  divine  messenger.  Had  Rein- 
hard  actually  formed  a  conception  of  this  plan  as  one  that 
had  been  devised  and  prosecuted  by  Jesus  after  the  man- 
ner of  men,  he  would  indeed  have  utteVed  the  most  striking 
inconsistency.  Reinhard  does  indeed  speak  in  his  prem- 
ises as  if  this  plan  had  been  devised  by  Jesus  himself,  but 
he  does  so  because  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  assume  as 
proved  what  he  was  about  to  prove  ;  namely,  that  it  was 
the  plan  of  God.  If  in  addition  to  this  it  should  be  objec- 
ted, that  the  author  speaks  of  a  plan  devised  by  Jesus, 
upon  the  very  tide  page,*  it  would  relate  only  to  the  phra- 
seology there  employed,  and  Reinhard  would  readily  sub- 
scribe to  the  whole  of  what  Sailer  has  said,  in  the  place 
quoted,  S.  281  f.  "  In  order  to  make  the  contents  of  this 
work  more  agreeable  to  me,  I  translate  it  into  different 
language,  such  as  follows  :  '  The  mind  of  Jesus  contained 
the  great  idea  of  founding  a  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth 
which  should  comprehend  all  ages  and  nations  and  be 
the  means  of  effecting  the  salvation  of  the  world  ;  and 
this  great  idea  was  contained  in  no  mind  but  his,  and 
was  as  distinct  from  all  others  in  the  manner  of  its 
execution,  as  it  was  in  its  character  ;  and  this  in  every 
respect  unique  idea  evidently  bears  the  splendid  im- 
press of  divinity ;  and  this  evidently  divine  idea  exhibits 
its  divine  origin  with  still  more  clearness  when  we  take 
into  consideration  the  manner  in  which  human  nature 
is  developed  in  general,  and  the  time  and  circumstances 
in  which  Jesus  made  his  appearance. 

Now  this  very  thing  is  the  highest  seal  of  the  mission  of 
Jesus,  showing,  that  he.  did  not  come  into  the  world  to  do 

*  [The  word  devised  belongs  to  the  German  title,  as  also  the  phrase 
quoted  on  the  top  of  page  276.    Tr.] 

30* 


354  APPENDIX,    F. 

his  own  will  or  to  execute  his  ow^n  plan.  Being  one  with 
the  Father,  he  taught  only  his  word  and  performed  only 
his  will."' 

With  this  solution  before  us,  all  inconsistencies  vanish 
of  their  own  accord,  and  with  them,  the  very  suspicion 
that  Christ's  undertaking  may  allure  other  minds  falsely 
and  capriciously  to  imitate  him. 

II.  Very  important  are  the  objections  which  have  been 
made  to  Reinhard's* concluding  position.  If  we  admit  all 
the  greatness  and  exaltation  of  Christ's  plan,  says  one,  it 
will  not  thence  follow  that  he  was  educated  by  God  for 
this  purpose  solely  in  a  supernatural  and  extraordinary 
way.  It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  a  natural  course  of  ed- 
ucation which  would  be  sufficient  to  enable  Jesus  ta  be- 
come what  he  actually  did.*  In  accordance  with  this  re- 
mark, men  early  made  attempts  to  deduce  the  formation  of 
Christ's  powers  from  external  sources  of  very  different 
kinds. t  Finding  however  that  these  attempts  proved  un- 
satisfactory, they  assumed  an  intellectual  self-education  for 
Jesus. {  In  so  doing  however  they  sometimes  lost  sight  of 
historical  truth,  at  others,  went  beyond  the  bounds  of  mod- 
esty, and  a  reverence  for  the  Scriptures ;  for  it  is  dif- 
ficult for  him  to  avoid  the  accusation  of  arrogance,  who, 
with  a  kind  of  boldness,  persists  in  efforts  to  crowd  him- 
self into  the  secret  history  of  Christ's  soul  and  exhibit  the 
causes  to  which  he  was  indebted  for  its  peculiarity. 
Should  the  interest  of  the  historical  investigator  demand 

*  So  also  the  reviews  of  Reinhard  in  the  Hall.  Journal  f.  Prediger, 
XXXVI.  246—248  Gabler,  Neuestes  Theol.  Journal,  HI.  35—42; 
Rohr,  Briefe,  S.  143  ff.  181  f. 

t  To  the  late  attempts  of  this  kind,  may  now  be  added,  what  is  as- 
serted in  the  codex  of  John's  Gospel  described  by  MOnter,  vid. 
MOnter,  Notitia  Codicis  Graeci,  Evangelium  Johannis  variatum 
continentis,  Haun.  1828  ;  where  Jesus  is  said  to  ha^*  been  instructed 
by  the  Egyptians  or  Hellenes.  S.  31,  ad  c.  VI.  42,  it  is  said  :  /nyjTrwg 
y.a&oxL  xaroiityjosv  na^a  rtav  "^ E^^Xrjvoyv,  eQjfExai  SiiiXsiv  nQog  i^uag  ov- 
Tws*  Ti  Tcoivov  £(TTt,  vcTCBQ  £$iS(XX^V  "^oiqa  roig  jLiyvTCTLOig,  xai  utceq  ot 
TiaxBqsg  {fiatv  sdida^av  rijuag.     At  c.  VI.  70,  71,  Svoaco  vf.uv  rtjv  dwafiiv 

7^v  tXa^ov sv  roj  vaoa  ortov  diatrjQsiTai  6  aqrog  trig  aioiviov  Oocpiag, 

At.  C.  VII.  16,  lit]  ^iiia&YjTCcog  SI  fii]  ra  yqaf.iuaxa  xurv  '^EXXi^van'. 

t  Greiling  in  Henke's  Museum,  II.  2.  297—341. 


^      fTJNIVEB.SITY 

APPENDIX,    F.  V     -^  ^^ 

such  an  inquiry,  still  it  should  not  be  forgot  _ 
moral-religious  interest  to  be  kept  in  view  is  far  niore  im- 
portant,  and  hence,  the  first  question  to  be  asked  is,  wheth- 
er this  will  gain  or  lose  thereby.  In  general,  the  mode 
of  proceeding  derived  from  Spinozistic  principles,  to  re- 
duce every  thing  in  Christianity  back  again  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  nature,  rigidly  applied,  cannot  be  demanded  as  a 
requisite  to  a  religious  mode  of  thinking;  as  its  application, 
instead  of  bringing  God  nearer  to  the  heart,  places  God 
farther  and  farther  out  of  view.  To  examine  in  this  place 
all  the  experiments  that  have  been  made  respecting  the 
educationof  Jesus,  would  lead  us  too  far.  In  our  opin- 
ion they  are  all  unsatisfactory  and  will  always  remain  so, 
because  they  all  lead  to  the  error,  that  a  man  is  obliged  on 
the  one  hand,  to  invent  means  for  effecting  the  mental  ed- 
ucation of  Jesus  which  are  not  authorized  by  historical 
proof,  and  to  over-estimate  their  effects ;  or,  on  the  other, 
to  diminish  the  great  and  incomparable  of  which  Jesus  was 
exclusively  possessed  and  bring  them  nearer  to  a  common 
standard.  Now,  though  we  should  admit  it  to  be  impos- 
sible to  give  an  apodictical  demonstration  of  the  wonder- 
ful education  of  Jesus,  a  thing  which  c^n  seldom  be  done 
in  historical  matters,  yet  the  supposition  that  Jesus  was  ex- 
pressly furnished  by  God  in  the  natural  way  with  an  ed- 
ucation and  a  preparation  of  soul  for  the  work  which  he 
undertook,  superior  to  every  thing  common  among  men, 
would  justify  the  conclusion,  that  God  had  destined  even 
this  Jesus  for  something  peculiar  and  extraordinary ;  and 
for  what  but  to  become  the  teacher,  guide,  and  spiritual  head 
of  mankind  ?  The  manner  in  which  this  influence  of  God 
was  exerted  upon  Jesus,  would  not  here  come  into  the  ac- 
count. We  have  only  to  ask,  what  God  intended  to  perform 
by  means  of  Jesus  ?  As  what  shall  we  recognise  him  ?  Now 
he  who  admits  a  divine  preadaptation  of  all  those  circum- 
stances which  combined  together  to  educate  Jesus  for 
his  work,  must  also  find  in  them  an  expression  of  the  will 
of  God  indicating,  that  we  are  to  look  upon  Jesus  as  the 
appropriate  instrument  of  God  and  put  unlimited  confi- 


356  APPENDIX,    F. 

dence  in  him  as  God's  delegate.  Should  we  refuse 
to  accede  to  him  that  divine  authority  which  binds  our 
conscience  the  object  which  God  agreeably  to  this 
supposition  intended  to  accomplish  by  him,  would  be 
frustrated. 

This  historic-psychological  way,  however,  is  not  the 
only  one,  in  which  Christ's  divine  mission  can  be  deduc- 
ed from  his  plan.  It  may  also  be  deduced  from  it  by 
means  of  a  moral-religious  consideration,  and  thus  the 
force  of  Reinhard's  proof  be  greatly  increased."^  It  is  not 
Christ's  recognition  and  knowledge  of  the  supreme  Be- 
ing which  make  him  so  unique  and  above  all  men  worthy 
of  reverence,  but  the  purity  and  decision  of  his  will  in  act- 
ing for  this  Being,  (as,  in  general,  all  knowledge  is  impure 
and  defective  without  a  pure  will.)  Instead  of  asking 
therefore  how  Jesus  acquired  his  knowledge  of  the  su- 
preme Being,  and  of  the  institution  necessary  for  the  sal- 
vation of  mankind,  we  may  inquire,  whence  did  Jesus  re- 
ceive his  call  to  found  this  institution  and  become  a  sa- 
viour ?  and  in  answer  to  it  we  say,  that  Jesus  could  not 
have  considered  himself  called  to  engage  in  this  work  in 
merely  a  natural  way,  or  by  any  thing  short  of  an  imme- 
diate revelation  from  God ;  as  nothing  else  could  justify 
him  in  attempting  to  become  a  Saviour  of  mankind.  This 
follows  frona  a  general  reason,  and  from  a  particular  na- 
tional one. 

The  duty  to  become  the  founder  and  head  .  of  an  eth- 
ical-religious community  or  a  church  is  not  a  duty  com- 
mon to  all,  (officium  commune,)  but  a  particular  and  per- 
sonal one,  (officium  singularej)  that  is,  it  is  not  a  duty 
common  to  many  or  to  all,  but  a  duty  which  can  belong 
to  but  one.  If  one  has  actually  become  the  founder  and 
head  of  a  church,  no  other  one  can.     Now  to  speak  of 


*  I  received  the  first  hints  as  to  taking  this  view  of  the  subject,  from 
one  of  my  deceased  teachers,  Mr.  Klotzsch,  formerly  professor  in  this 
place,  in  the  course  of  some  occasional  remarks  upon  Reinhard's 
work. — I  have  since  found  the  germ  of  it  in  Kant's  Relig.,  S.  141. 
144,  2e  A. 


APPENDIX,  F.  357 

positive  certainty,  it  is  evident,  that  natural  conscience 
cannot  be  sufficient  to  convince  a  man  that  this  duty  is 
incumbent  upon  him  alone  of  all  the  millions  of  mankind  ; 
for  can  this  teach  any  one  for  certainty  that  he  possesses 
exactly  that  measure  of  wisdom,  which  he  must  possess, 
who  attempts  to  unite  all  men  to  one  religious  creed  in 
common  ?  whether  his  strength  has  perfectly  grown  to 
tjiat  single,  supreme  duty  ?  whether  his  time  and  circum- 
stances have  been  adapted  and  actually  destined  by  God  ? 
whether  he  has  that  moral  superiority  over  all  men  that 
ever  have  been  or  are  to  be,  which  the  founder  of  the 
church  must  have  ?  One  is  incapacitated  from  knowing  all 
this  in  a  natural  way  in  exact  proportion  as  he  recognises 
the  universal  corruption  of  mankind  which  renders  it  impos- 
sible for  any  one  to  have  an  infallible  knowledge  of  what 
lies  within  at  the  bottom  of  his  own  heart.  He  can  not 
know  but  that  a  greater  or  better  one  will  come  after  him, 
nor,  if  he  is  conscious  of  no  higher  connexion  with  God, 
of  no  immediate  commission  and  call  from.  God,  be  cer- 
tain that  God  will  not  render  another  man  as  efficient  by 
an  extraordinary  influence  and  mission,  as  he  himself  is 
merely  the  natural  means.  And  further,  how  could  he, 
directed  by  the  natural  information  in  his  possession,  pre- 
sume to  declare  himself  once  for  all  the  first  and  best 
guide  of  mankind,  and  all  those  who  after  him  may  as- 
sume this  dignity,  to  be  deceivers  ?  Without  an  immediate 
divine  call  there  remains  something  arbitrary  and  pre- 
sumptuous in  announcing  one's  self,  merely  under  the  gui- 
dance of  natural  feelings,  to  be  a  founder  of  the  church. 
Nothing  but  an  immediate  call  from  God  and  one  the 
possibility  of  which  is  incontrovertible,  can  authorize  a 
man  to  do  any  such  thing.  If  we  recognise  Jesus  as  pos- 
sessed of  the  clearest  self-consciousness,  the  highest  wis- 
dom, and  the  most  undoubted  purity  of  will,  then  this 
dignity  of  his  requires  us  to  believe  that  be  did  not  re- 
solve to  undertake  and  execute  the  magnificent  work  in 
question  without  being  infallibly  certain  of  the  express  will 
and  commission  of  God  in  the  case.     In  short,  a  call  to 


r 


358  APPENDIX,  F. 

become  the  moral  head  of  the  whole  human  family,  is  one, 
the  execution  of  which,  for  moral  considerations,  cannot 
be  undertaken  without  an  immediate  command  from  God. 

This  reason  derives  strength  from  a  national  one  appli- 
cable to  Jesus.  He  in  common  with  all  the  rest  of  his 
countrymen,  believed  in  the  high  and  extraordinary  reve- 
lations of  God.  They  were  received  by  the  prophets,  and 
related  in  a  great  measure  to  the  Messiah.  If  therefore 
Jesus  believed  that  God  intended  to  send  the  Messiah  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  by  him  found  an  eternal  king- 
dom for  the  good  of  all  men,  and  yet  received  no  divine 
and  miraculous  intelligence  in  regard  to  his  own  person 
•in  this  respect,  this  fact  would  have  furnished  him  with 
sufficient  proof  that  he  himself  had  not  been  destined  to 
become  the  Messiah  ;  and  if,  nevertheless,  he  had  under- 
taken the  calling  of  the  Messiah,  he  would  have  done  it 
without  any  order  and  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  God. 
Christ's  convictions  of  truth, .  therefore,  derived  as  they 
were  from  the  ancient  prophecies,  were  of  such  a  charac- 
ter as  to  lead  us  to  the  conclusion,  that  morally  he  could 
never  have  undertaken  to  found  a  kingdom  of  God  upon 
earth  without  a  high,  and  divine  commission. 

To  deny  that  Jesus  immediately  received  any  such  di- 
vine call,  and  make  him  have  determined  to  become  the 
Messiah  from  a  heroic  act  of  his  own  will,  as  well  as  to 
clothe  what  is  thought  to  have  passed  at  the  same  time  in 
the  interior  of  his  own  heart  in  romantic  monologues,*  is 
the  right  way  to  deduce  the  actions  of  Jesus  from  an  en- 
thusiastic exaltation  or  one  less  noble  ;  to  imagine  him 
secretly  ensnared  in  a  fine  self-deception  ;f  and,  at  the 
bottom,  to  assume  that  one  understands  the  internal 
springs  of  his  life  better  than  he  did  himself.  When  it 
comes  to  this  pass,  it  is,  as  has  long  been  admitted,  self- 
evident,  that  nothing  more  can  be  said  of  that  perfect  self- 

*  Such  an  one  is  to  be  found  in  the  Briefe  Ober  d.  Ration.,  S.  172 — 
174,  in  every  respect  a  la  Bahrdt  and  Venturini. 

t  As  Carus  himself  has  done,  Psychologie  der  Hebraer,  S.  305. 


APPENDIX,   F.  359 

resignation  to  Christ  in  which  his  word  and  work  become 
binding  upon  the  heart  and  conscience,  and  we  put  our 
confidence  in  him.*  None  can  have  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  Taut  those  who  recognise  him  as  a  divine  messen- 
ger ;  not  in  that  vague  sense  in  which  any  distinguished 
man  may  say,  but  in  the  only  sense  grounded  upon  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus  himself. 
This  is  the  only  faith  by  which  Christianity,  the  church, 
and  religion,  can  be  sustained  among  us. 

*  Plank  points  out  this  tendency  of  the  new  theology  in  a  very 
excellent  manner  in  the  Erste  Amtsjahre  des  Pfarrers  von  S.  Gott., 
1823,  S.  19.  "  The  first  theological  teacher  commenced  his  first 
lesson  with  declaring  that  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  initiate  us 
into  nothing  but  pure  and  sublime  Christianity.  A  new  theology  has 
arisen  the  advocates  of  which  have  finally  with  a  bold  hand  torn 
away  from  Christianity,  the  vail  in  which  for  almost  18  centuries  it 
had  been  inwrapped  ;  "  for,"  say  they,  "  it  can  no  longer  be  conceal- 
ed that  the  time  of  believing  in  Christ  has  passed  by." 


ERRATA. 

Page  121,  1st  line,  for  These,  read  There. — Page  89,  Note,  16th 
line,  for  C.  read  E. — Page  168,  21st  line,  read  Evemerus. — Page  1, 
Note,  21st  line,  after  y,  insert  4te  A. — Page  125, 15th  line,  before  by, 
insert  up. — Page  183,  Note,  13th  line,  before  Prideaux,  insert  [. 


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